- India and the US are reportedly aiming to finalize the first phase of their trade deal by the December 14–15 G20 Summit in Florida.
- Former US diplomat Nisha Biswal says both countries want to conclude the agreement, but negotiations remain complicated.
- India's demand for comparative advantages over competitors in sectors such as textiles remains an issue.
- The February 2026 framework was followed by renewed negotiations after changes in the US tariff landscape.
- Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal says India will secure one of the best trade deals with the US.
India and the United States could finalize the first phase of their bilateral trade agreement by the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Florida next month, according to Nisha Biswal, a former senior US diplomat who expressed optimism about the ongoing negotiations.
There is a desire in both countries to reach an agreement before the summit, which US president Donald Trump will chair on December 14 and 15, Biswal said. However, she cautioned that negotiators still need to resolve several complicated issues before the deal can be concluded.
"By all expectations, I think that there's a desire to try to conclude the phase one deal, perhaps by the G20," Nisha Biswal, former Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, told PTI in an interview.
India and the US finalized a framework for the first phase of the Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) in February 2026, following a phone conversation between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Trump. However, subsequent changes in the US tariff landscape, following a Supreme Court order, led to renewed discussions between the two countries.
Tariff changes and India's demands complicate negotiations
Biswal described the negotiations as "complicated," pointing to several outstanding issues, including India's demand for comparative advantages over competing countries in sectors such as textiles.
"For the administration, trying to figure out how to address that and still stay within the strictures of the tools that it is using is also going to be an issue that they have to navigate," she said.
She acknowledged that reaching an agreement between two large and complex economies would require negotiations on several difficult subjects rather than a quick settlement.
"They are two extraordinarily complex economies. So I understand that this is not quite as easy as a back-of-the-envelope type of agreement; we're actually trying to get through a lot of tricky issues," she said.
Biswal said she remained hopeful that both Washington and New Delhi understood the importance of their economic relationship and the need to secure a meaningful outcome from the negotiations.
US-India ties stabilized after February framework
Assessing the broader bilateral relationship under Trump's second administration, which began in 2025, Biswal described it as a mixed picture. However, she said relations had stabilized in 2026 as trade negotiations gained momentum following the February framework announcement.
"2026, I think, saw a kind of stabilisation in the relationship as the trade negotiations kind of took off in earnest, particularly after India made some very smart moves," she said.
She also pointed to Washington's response to India's diplomatic and trade engagements with other countries. According to Biswal, the US took note when Modi met Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation meeting in Tianjin last year.
Washington also paid attention when India and the European Union signed their trade agreement, she said, referring to comments by US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
"Not soon thereafter, you saw some agreement in principle on a phase one, you know, deal between the US and India," Biswal said.
Goyal says India will secure one of the best deals
Trump said on October 20 that the two countries were "pretty close" to reaching a trade agreement. He also expressed confidence that a deal would be reached, saying the proposed pact would differ from previous agreements.
India's Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal also expressed confidence in the negotiations. Speaking to reporters in Visakhapatnam on Thursday, he said New Delhi had negotiated a strong set of outcomes.
"And in every respect, India will have one of the best deals with the US," Goyal said.
The latest round of discussions took place in New Delhi on November 2 and 3, when a two-member US trade team met Indian counterparts to discuss customs and trade facilitation.
On October 26, Goyal had said both sides had "concluded most of the discussions and are fine-tuning the agreement."
With the December G20 Summit approaching, the two countries face a potential deadline to complete the first phase of the agreement, although key tariff-related issues remain unresolved.
