India to Maintain Agriculture Protection in Trade Deal with US: Trump Aide

India

will maintain some agricultural import protections in its trade with the United States following the trade deal, said US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. Earlier on Tuesday, Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal had said that India has ensured the interests of its sensitive agriculture and dairy sectors are completely protected in the bilateral trade pact with the US.

India would keep in place some protections on "key areas" of its politically important farm sector, but the United States would continue to work for access, said Greer. The US would continue to work on access to certain protected areas of India's agriculture sector, but India's tariffs "for a variety of things, you know, tree nuts, wine, spirits, fruits, vegetables, etc, they're going down to zero," Greer told CNBC in a live interview, according to Reuters. He said that the tariff reduction on the aforementioned products will be a "big win" for US farmers. He did not mention rice, beef, soybeans, sugar or dairy, which are 'highly-guarded' commodities that India excluded from its recent trade deal with the European Union.Union Minister Piyush Goyal, at a press conference on Tuesday, had assured that the agreement will provide huge opportunities for people of the country and "will protect the sensitive sectors, the interests of our agriculture and our dairy sectors in full respect".Notably, India has always kept out sensitive sectors such as dairy, rice, wheat, meat, poultry, cereals, GM foods, soymeal, and maize out of the ambit of its trade agreements.

India and the US have agreed on a framework for a trade deal under which Washington will bring down tariffs on Indian goods to 18 per cent from the current 50 per cent. The announcement is important because the US has imposed a steep tariff on Indian goods entering American markets, effective August 27, 2025.According to sources, India will buy products worth USD 500 billion from the US in the next five years. India would be buying more oil and gas, technology items like advanced chips and data centres, precious metals and gems, aeroplanes and their parts. These purchases would be possible as even in aviation alone USD 100 billion orders are placed or are in pipeline, according to officials.