India Says ‘No Compromise’ on Red Lines in US Trade Deal: Report

Talks on the proposed trade deal between India and the US will depend on how both negotiate their significant sensitivities and red lines, PTI reported quoting Govt sources.

For India, the sources underlined, there will be no compromising on issues concerning farmers, fishermen, and small businesses. "At the end of the day there are some red lines that we cannot ignore, the deal hangs in the balance on how each side deals with those red lines. For us it has been very clearly outlined," one source told PTI.

India and the US have been negotiating a bilateral trade agreement (BTA) since March, having held five rounds of negotiations until now. The upcoming round, which had originally envisioned a US delegation trip to India in the August 25 period, has now been delayed.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has again affirmed that he will "stand like a wall" to protect the interests of farmers and fishermen, emphasizing that India will never budge on these agendas.

On the proposed BTA, the US is pushing for lower tariffs on goods like corn, soybeans, apples, almonds, and ethanol, and improved access for its dairy products. India is, however, strongly resisting these requests in the interest of livelihoods of small and marginal farmers.

In the past, India has not accorded duty concessions to any trading partners, including nations like Australia and Switzerland, with whom it has signed trade pacts.

The overall target of the pact is to over two-fold bilateral trade, from the existing USD 191 billion to USD 500 billion by 2030. The US and India hope to finalize the first phase of the BTA by autumn 2025 (September–October).

In 2024–25, two-way trade between the two countries amounted to USD 131.8 billion, with USD 86.5 billion worth of exports and USD 45.3 billion worth of imports. In the April–July duration of 2025–26, the US became India's biggest trading partner, with two-way trade amounting to USD 12.56 billion.