India and US enjoy strong partnership across trade, defence and technology, says minister

Speaking at the Bloomberg New Economy event, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal described the India-United States partnership as “very good” and expected to grow irrespective of changes in political leadership in either country. He emphasized that the relationship extends beyond trade—India’s biggest trading partner—to defence collaborations, joint technology initiatives, critical mineral agreements and extensive people-to-people engagement.

Goyal said existing defence exercises and efforts to keep technology supply chains open illustrate the depth of the tie. He added that both nations are negotiating a bilateral trade agreement, with the United States seeking to finalize terms while India pushes for more favorable tariffs. Recent comments from US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman confirm that talks continue but an accord is not imminent, and trade figures show a modest rise in Indian exports to the US and a larger increase in imports, narrowing the surplus.