India, US discuss ways to increase trade

New Delhi: A day after Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said hopes of an India-US trade pact are off the table for now, US Ambassador to India Atul Keshap spoke to the Indian minister for over two hours, discussing trade between the two countries.

While Keshap tweeted about the meeting, there were no immediate comments from the commerce ministry over the discussions that happened on Friday.

"I had a very spirited exchange of views with Commerce Minister @PiyushGoyal about how #USIndia trade can and should attain the USD 500 billion vision set by @Potus . Across our 2+ hour discussion we agreed that our great democracies should work more closely to advance our mutual prosperity," Keshap said.

Goyal while speaking at an industry event in Mumbai on Thursday had said hopes of an India-US trade pact are off the table for now, with the Joe Biden administration conveying to India that it is not interested in a free trade agreement.

"The US as of now has kind of indicated that they are not looking for new trade agreements, but we look at working with them for more market access issues on both sides and I think that would also be a big relief and a big opportunity opener for our export sector," he had said.

According to the data of the commerce ministry, in 2020-21, the bilateral trade between the US and India stood at USD 80.5 billion as compared to USD 88.9 billion in 2019-20.