India’s Minister of Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal, assured this Tuesday that New Delhi is in talks with the United States to reach a bilateral trade agreement with this country, despite Washington’s punitive measures for purchases of Russian oil. “Many things have happened and there is still much to do, but we are in talks with the United States to reach a bilateral trade agreement,” Goyal said during an event in New Delhi. The statement comes weeks after the sixth round of negotiations for a free trade agreement between the two countries was postponed shortly before the full implementation of US tariffs on Indian products, which amount to 50%. The White House’s justification for these tariffs has been India’s continued purchase of Russian oil. Since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, India has drastically increased its imports of discounted Russian crude oil, becoming one of its largest buyers worldwide. This decision has led to a cooling in trade relations between India and the United States, its largest trading partner at present. In parallel, this Asian country has explored in recent weeks new trade alliances with Russia, China, and other countries.
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