‘Will neither bow down nor appear weak’: Piyush Goyal on trade deals with India; message amid US tariffs

Union commerce and industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Friday said India would not compromise its self-respect in trade negotiations. His comments come at a time when India has been hit by 50% US tariffs and trade deal negotiations between the countries have hit a stalemate.

“If any country wants to enter into a free trade agreement with us, we are always ready. But I believe that any form of discrimination affects the self-confidence and self-respect of India's 1.4 billion citizens. Keeping that in mind, we will neither bow down nor ever appear weak. Together, we will continue moving forward and capture new markets. I can confidently say that this year our exports will surpass last year's,” Goyal said, as quoted by ANI, at the curtain raiser of Bharat Buildcon in New Delhi.


The minister also called on industry players to make the initiative fully independent and self-sufficient, while assuring government support to manage trade-related stress. “Let this be a completely self sufficient industry led initiative. And at every point of time the important criteria should be an assessment of its outcome and whether the participants go back happy and satisfied at their investment into this conference come exhibition,” he noted.


Highlighting fresh export commitments, Goyal revealed that the iron ore mining and steel industry had pledged to ship 50 million tonnes of steel from India. “Now that could be another sector where we can become a supplier to many countries of high quality and attractively priced products which will help us increase our export. Also diversify our export basket,” he added.

Acknowledging the “current situation emanating from certain unilateral actions,” he urged industry to flag affected sectors so the government can help them find alternate markets. “We in the Commerce Ministry through the missions, are reaching out to other parts of the world to look at other opportunities which we can capture,” he said.

Also read: Ministry says won't have 'long-term loss'; to expedite export promotion

He also pointed to steps being taken to boost domestic demand. “We are also looking at giving a boost to domestic consumption and you'll soon see the GST Council meeting next week… so that the impact of these changes can be felt by all of you very quickly and that can give a big demand booster to the entire domestic manufacturing sector,” the minister said.
India’s export sector has been facing uncertainty after Donald Trump announced 50 per cent tariffs on Indian goods, which came into effect on August 27.

In response, a commerce ministry official had said that while the higher duties would hurt sectors like textiles, chemicals and machinery in the short run, they would “not be a very long-term loss.” The ministry is expediting the rollout of an Export Promotion Mission to support exporters and build resilient supply chains, while also launching outreach programmes in 40 major markets with a special focus on textiles.

The commerce ministry is also set to meet exporters from affected sectors such as chemicals and jewellery this week to discuss ways to ease the tariff shock. Officials said India remains hopeful of resuming negotiations with the US on a bilateral trade deal, stressing that both additional tariffs would need to be addressed.