India will have no difficulty in purchasing goods worth $500 billion from the U.S. over the next five years, as envisaged under the bilateral trade pact, and in fact, this is an “extremely” conservative number for a country which aspires to become a $30 trillion economy, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said on Sunday.
“My sense is we need at least a 100 billion dollar plus only for the aviation sector, in addition to oil, LNG, LPG, and crude oil,” Mr. Goyal said in an interview with PTI Videos.
According to a joint statement issued by both sides on Saturday on the framework for the first phase of the bilateral trade agreement, India has expressed its intention to purchase $500 billion of U.S. energy products, aircraft and aircraft parts, precious metals, technology products and coking coal over the next five years.
India today negotiating trade deals from a position of strength, confidence: Piyush Goyal
The Commerce and Industry Minister said that Indian goods facing 18% tariffs will still have a competitive advantage in U.S. markets compared to products from China and other competitor countries, which face higher levies. China has been slapped with 35% tariffs, and other countries in Asia face 19% and up.
