India, U.S. may execute first phase of bilateral trade pact by middle of next month: Goyal

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India's Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal. File | Photo Credit: AP

India and the U.S. are moving towards closing all the open ends of the interim trade agreement, and both sides are likely to execute the "very, very vibrant" first phase of the pact by the middle of next month, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Friday (June 5, 2026).

He said that the U.S. team was in New Delhi from June 2-4 for finalisation of the deal. They held discussions with the Indian team.

"I also met with them yesterday, and we are fast moving towards closing all the open ends, and I think sometime by the middle of next month or so, we should be in a position to execute a very, very vibrant first tranche...

"It is only the first tranche of our bilateral trade agreement, which will give preferential access to India over our competitors," he told reporters here.

He added that a high-level team is expected to visit India towards the end of this month.

The team is likely to be led by U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Jamieson Greer.

During this week's talks in the national capital, the two teams held constructive and positive discussions across a wide range of issues, covering trade in goods, non-tariff measures, customs and trade facilitation, economic security alignment and other areas of mutual interest, the Commerce Ministry said.

The U.S. team was led by its chief negotiator Brendan Lynch. India's chief negotiator is Darpan Jain, who is an additional secretary in the Department of Commerce.

After finalising the framework for the first phase of the bilateral trade agreement (BTA), the two countries are looking to finalise the details of the interim trade pact and take forward the negotiations for the broader BTA.

On February 7, India and the U.S. issued a joint statement finalising the contours or framework of the first phase of the BTA or an interim trade deal.

According to that framework, the U.S. had agreed to reduce tariffs on India to 18% from 50%. It had remov