India is committed to purchasing $100 billion worth of US products annually for five years, which will largely include aircraft, technology items, precious metals, oil, nuclear products and agricultural goods, The Indian Express has learnt.
This is over twice last year’s imports. In FY25, India imported $45.62 billion worth of American goods, while exports to the US stood at $86.51 billion.
Under the trade deal announced Monday, Washington lowered tariffs on India to 18% from 50% imposed in August 2005, and US President Donald Trump said India will buy over $500-billion worth of American energy, technology, agricultural products, and coal, among other products.
Sources said while India has opened its agriculture sector to a wide category of products, it has maintained protection on genetically modified (GM) products, soya meal, poultry, maize, cereals, and corn.
Quota access has been given in cotton, pulses, chestnuts, onion among a range of other items, sources said, adding that Delhi has given market access to products, such as apples, that are already open for other countries.
India had given market access to apples to New Zealand and kiwis and pears to the European Union. Market access to wine, spirits and beer has also been a key element in deals with Western trade partners.
Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said Tuesday that interests of India’s sensitive sectors like agriculture and dairy have been fully protected in the India-US trade deal, which is much better than what Delhi’s competitors got from Washington.
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“The Prime Minister is constantly concerned about our farmers, those associated with animal husbandry, and the dairy sector. He has never allowed their interests to be compromised… In this US trade deal, the sensitive sectors of agriculture and dairy have been protected,” he said.
Earlier in the day, US Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins said the “deal will export more American farm products to India’s massive market, lifting prices, and pumping cash into rural America. In 2024, America’s agricultural trade deficit with India was $1.3 billion. India’s growing population is an important market for American agricultural products” and the “deal will go a long way to reducing this deficit”.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has, on multiple occasions, expressed his commitment to preventing any adverse impact on Indian farmers.
On August 7 last year, after Trump doubled tariffs on India to 50%, Modi said he would not compromise “even if it entailed paying a very heavy personal price”.
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“The well-being of Indian farmers, fisherfolk and cattle keepers is our foremost priority. Modi is standing like a wall against any adverse policy that could impact Indian farmers, fisherfolk and cattle keepers. India will never compromise the interests of Indian farmers, fisherfolk and cattle keepers,” he said during his Independence Day speech.
Last year, the Indian Coordination Committee of Farmers Movements (ICCFM), a farmers’ body, had asked the government to exclude all aspects of agriculture from the US trade deal to protect the interests of Indian farmers.
In a letter to Goyal, the ICCFM warned that granting duty-free access to US agricultural products under a trade agreement could have serious consequences. It said that the US has been engaged in a trade war with China, Mexico and Canada since 2018, which had severely affected its agricultural exports.
“The US trade deficit in agriculture has nearly doubled, indicating a significant surplus they may seek to offload onto markets like India. For example, soybean exports from the US dropped from $34.4 billion in 2022 to $24.5 billion in 2024, while corn exports fell from $18.6 billion to $13.9 billion during the same period,” the ICCFM letter stated.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
