New Delhi, Aug 5 (IANS) As US President Donald Trump threatened hefty tariffs, India remains actively involved in the discussions on the Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA), which aims at expanding trade and investment and deepening the US-India trade relationship to promote growth that ensures fairness, national security and job creation — especially in labour-intensive sector including agricultural products, the Parliament was informed on Tuesday.

The ongoing discussions are focused on how to take an integrated approach to strengthen and deepen bilateral trade by mutually increasing market access, reducing tariff and non-tariff barriers, and deepening supply chain integration, Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Ramnath Thakur, told the Lok Sabha in a written reply.

“Further, the livelihood interests of our farmers and requirements of food security have always been paramount for the government while negotiating trade agreements with our international partners, including the US,” he added.

Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Jitin Prasada, replied to a similar question in the Parliament that the government is actively involved in the discussions on the India-US BTA with the US government with the aim to expand trade and investment and deepen the India-US trade relationship to promote growth that ensures fairness, national security and job creation.

“India-US bilateral Trade Agreement negotiations were launched in March 2025. Five rounds of negotiations have been held, the last being from July 14-18, 2025, at Washington, US,” Prasada said.

To safeguard the interests of farmers and the domestic industry, international trade negotiations allow for the inclusion of sensitive, negative, or exclusion lists — categories of goods on which limited or no tariff concessions are granted.

“In addition, in case of a surge in imports and injury to the domestic industry, a country is allowed to take recourse to trade remedial measures such as anti-dumping and safeguards on imports within the periods as mutually agreed to by the parties under FTAs,” said the minister.

–IANS

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