New Delhi: India has secured the best trade deal with the US compared to its competing nations, and the two countries share a “very powerful” relationship, commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said Saturday. India, he said, is building a worldwide web of trade partnerships.
Stressing that the $30 trillion US economy is the world’s largest and one that can’t be ignored, Goyal said, “It has been a fantastic journey.”
“We have the best of relations. You would have observed that through the last year, President Donald Trump has always had the best of things to say about India as a country, and about Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi. We have fantastic relations with our counterparts there,” he said.
Addressing the Raisina Dialogue 2026, Goyal also said that “ultimately, a trade deal is about preference over your competition”.
“Even within your family, sometimes you can have one or two misunderstandings,” he said. “It’s a part of the course. I think it’s a very, very powerful relationship that the US and India share. And we got the best deal amongst all the nations with whom we compete,” said Goyal when asked about India’s trade ties with the US.
He added that both countries are strategic partners and the largest democracies in the world.
“We have a large responsibility cast on both our nations,” said Goyal. “They are the world’s largest economy, $30 trillion economy, nobody can wish them away,” he said, adding that ultimately a trade deal is about preference over competitors. Insisting that India got the “best deal amongst all of the competitors” in the Asian region, Goyal said, “What’s a trade deal? You are trying to get a preference or a preferential access for yourself, your goods, your services, compared to your competitor.