EAM Jaishankar on India-US Trade Deal

Washington DC: External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Wednesday attended the Critical Minerals meeting hosted by the US State Department. As part of his visit to the US, he also met US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.The visit coincides with an agreement between the world’s two largest democracies on a trade deal. The minister said a detailed account of the negotiations is now underway and both sides are expected to issue a joint statement on its exact tenets soon.Speaking to ANI on the sidelines of the meeting, Jaishankar said, “It was not with me, because that is being handled by Commerce and Industries Minister Piyush Goyal. The Prime Minister and the US President had a conversation; some announcements came out of it. Thereafter, a detailing of the trade negotiations is underway as we speak.”He added that Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal would be able to provide timelines for the formal announcement. “It is hard for me to say, and the Commerce Minister would know it better, because he is in direct engagement with the US Trade Representative,” he said.Earlier, speaking in Parliament, Piyush Goyal said both countries have finalised several areas of a bilateral trade agreement after intensive negotiations. He informed the House that both sides will now complete technical processes and paperwork to unlock the deal’s potential.Goyal described the framework as a landmark step in strengthening bilateral relations and advancing the vision of a developed India by 2047. He added that the 18 per cent rate announced by US President Donald Trump is lower than tariffs imposed on several competing countries, enhancing India’s export competitiveness.He said negotiating teams from both nations engaged over the past year to conclude a balanced and mutually beneficial agreement while safeguarding critical and sensitive sectors. The minister emphasised that India’s agriculture and dairy sectors remain protected under the framework.“The US side, too, had areas that were sensitive from its point of view. Following nearly year-long discussions over many rounds, the two negotiating teams were able to narrow their differences significantly and finalise several areas of the bilateral trade agreement,” Goyal said.Meanwhile, Jaishankar also underlined the importance of the Critical Minerals ministerial meeting. “It was a very good discussion. Critical minerals are a very important subject. The US has been partnering up for some years. Today they launched a new initiative called FORGE, which we have supported — a successor to the Mineral Security Partnership. Overall, it was a productive and outcome-oriented meeting, and that was the core reason I came,” he said.In his address, Jaishankar warned that “excessive concentration” in critical mineral supply chains poses a major global risk and called for structured international cooperation to “de-risk” them as India deepens engagement with the US-led framework on strategic minerals.



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