As Trump’s July 9 deadline looms, Piyush Goyal says India negotiates from a position of strength

A day after Piyush Goyal, the Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, said that India will never strike a trade deal—ostensibly with the U.S.—“based on a timeline”, the minister proclaimed on Saturday that today, India negotiates from a position of strength.

“We are self-confident, we can compete with anybody in the world,” Goyal told reporters, adding that, unlike in the past, India does not undermine national interests in its negotiations and signing of agreements. “This is not a weak India under Congress and UPA, which would negotiate and make agreements which were not in our national interests,” he said.

Goyal’s comments come at a time when speculation about an interim trade deal between India and the U.S. is rife. However, the minister dispelled the speculations. “India discusses on its terms and we never make a trade deal based on a timeline; when the deal is good, fully matured, and in the national interest, then we accept it,” he was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

On Saturday, Goyal reiterated that India does not negotiate under deadlines. “We negotiate keeping national interests in mind, and national interests are paramount in all our work,” he said. Goyal also highlighted that since Prime Minister Narendra Modi took office in 2014, India has entered into free trade agreements with countries worldwide, including Mauritius, the United Arab Emirates, Australia, Switzerland, Norway, Liechtenstein, Iceland, and, more recently, the UK.

He added that India continues to work with other developed nations, such as the EU bloc of 27 countries, as well as Oman, Peru, and Chile. While Goyal mentioned the U.S., he did not elaborate on the progress India has made in negotiations for a potential trade agreement with the U.S. 

Recently, a high-level Indian delegation, led by Chief Negotiator Rajesh Agrawal, returned from the U.S. following extensive talks with U.S. representatives from June 26 to July 2. As part of the negotiations, India has pressed for safeguards for labour-intensive segments of the economy, sources told Fortune India. India is unlikely to offer full market access in agriculture and dairy to U.S. firms, they said.

This comes close on the heels of U.S. President Donald Trump saying that the upcoming trade deal between India and the U.S. is going to be of a “different kind” with “much less tariffs.”

Trump had earlier said that he does not intend to extend the 90-day suspension on tariffs for most countries after July 9. He said his administration will inform countries that trade penalties will be enforced if agreements with the United States are not reached.

On April 2, Trump introduced a sweeping set of tariffs under a “reciprocal tariff” framework, which included an additional 26% duty on Indian goods entering the U.S. However, a week later, on April 9, the U.S. administration granted a 90-day postponement for most of these tariffs, reverting temporarily to a flat 10% rate for nearly all impacted nations.