India negotiates from a position of strength and can compete with anyone: Goyal
Union Minister of Commerce & Industry Piyush Goyal
| Photo Credit:
@PiyushGoyal
A day after indicating that the July 9 deadline for the India-US interim trade talks was not sacrosanct for India, Union Minister of Commerce & Industry Piyush Goyal said that the country negotiated from a position of strength and was confident about competing with anyone.
However, US President Donald Trump has kept the pressure up on all trade partners declaring that he had prepared letters for 12 countries outlining the various tariff levels they would face on their exports and the “take it or leave it” offers would be sent on Monday (July 7).
“Today, India negotiates from a position of strength. We are self-confident and can compete with anybody in the world. This is not the weak India under Congress and the UPA, which signed agreements that were not in the national interest,” Goyal said speaking to the media on Saturday.
Trump did not name the countries the letters were being sent to but had earlier said that all countries with which the US had not signed trade deals would get them by July 9.
The US has managed to sign trade deals with just the UK and Vietnam so far. A broad framework may have also been agreed with Pakistan, but the details of that would reportedly be shared when the US signs deals with other countries.
In April, Trump announced reciprocal tariffs on most of US’ trade partners, ranging 10 per cent to 50 per cent, largely depending upon the trade deficits that the US had with the countries. India got saddled with a 26 per cent tariff. Of this, a 10 per cent base tariff was applied and the rest was suspended for 90 days, ending July 9.
There is no clarity yet on what tariffs would be outlined by Trump in the letters he is drafting and to what extent would it be different from the reciprocal tariffs announced in April.
Trump said on Thursday that the tariffs could be from 60 per cent-70 per cent to 10 per cent-20 per cent. “The upper range of the tariffs that are to be mentioned in the letters being sent by Trump is certainly higher than the reciprocal tariffs,” the source said.
Indian negotiators, who returned to Delhi on Friday after about a week of negotiations in Washington DC, were not able to reach a breakthrough on contentious issues including sensitive sectors such as agriculture and dairy. “The US demanded tariff cuts in wide ranging sectors, including agriculture, and it was not possible to give in to all the demands. Moreover, it offered very little in terms of additional market access for Indian goods in the US,” the source said.
Goyal said on Friday that India discusses on its own terms and never makes a trade deal based on a timeline. “When the deal is good, fully matured, and in the national interest, then we accept it,” he said.
Published on July 5, 2025
