US-INDIA trade talks may have reached ‘plateau’, further concessions difficult : Nirmala Sitharaman
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on October 5 said India-US trade negotiations remained ongoing, but the two sides may have reached a stage where further concessions would be difficult.
Speaking at the Munich Leaders Meeting in New Delhi, Sitharaman described the agreement, which is yet to be finalised, as having been “hard and very vigorously negotiated”.
“The negotiations are still ongoing although we would like to believe both sides have reached a plateau beyond which giving or taking might be very, very difficult,” she said. She added that both sides could explore any remaining room for negotiation. US-INDIA trade talks
Sitharaman said the trade balance favoured India and that Washington wanted to reduce its deficit. In her assessment, the US was seeking concessions to address what it viewed as losses accumulated over previous years.
he talks follow a framework for an interim trade agreement announced in February 2026. A joint statement published by India’s commerce ministry on February 7 said the countries would work towards finalising that agreement while continuing negotiations on a broader bilateral trade pact. Those negotiations were launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump on February 13, 2025.
The framework covered tariff reductions, non-tariff barriers, preferential market access and supply-chain cooperation. It also envisaged further negotiations on digital trade and additional market-access commitments.
Sitharaman questioned the increasing use of tariffs to address trade imbalances, saying they had previously served as instruments of negotiation within an established framework.
“Tariff has become weaponised,” she said, arguing that tariffs were rising even though that framework remained in place. US-INDIA trade talks
Referring to India’s trade deficit with China, she said the imbalance had grown “exponentially” since 2014. She questioned whether India could adopt a similar tariff-based approach towards China, while noting that it was expected to resolve differences through negotiation and reciprocal concessions.
Sitharaman said trade negotiations had traditionally allowed countries to identify discrepancies and address them by opening markets to each other’s goods.
Turning to the European Union, the minister described the India-EU trade agreement as an example of India’s approach to negotiating deals while protecting sensitive sectors. US-INDIA trade talks
She said the description “mother of all deals” was appropriate because the two economies together accounted for about a quarter of global GDP. Sensitivities involving dairy, agriculture and soya had been protected, she added.
India and the EU concluded free trade agreement negotiations on January 27, 2026, according to the European Commission. On September 11, the commission submitted proposals to the EU Council seeking authorisation for the agreement’s signature and conclusion.
Sitharaman said agreements also needed to preserve supply chains and provide new partnerships where existing connections had been disrupted.
She said India was tailoring agreements to protect national interests while navigating a challenging global trading environment. She also criticised departures from World Trade Organization rules, alleging that countries had breached them in different ways.
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