New Delhi believes an agreement with Washington should help it gain greater market access for labour-intensive goods

India will negotiate a bilateral trade agreement with the US from a position of strength, keeping New Delhi's national interests in mind, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal has said, according to the Hindu BusinessLine newspaper.

Washington and New Delhi are engaged in negotiations for a trade agreement and are racing to meet a July 9 deadline set by US President Donald Trump, in order to avoid reciprocal tariffs.

"Today, India negotiates from a position of strength," Goyal said at a summit on Saturday, according to the report. "We are self-confident and can compete with anybody in the world." The minister said India did not negotiate under deadlines. "We negotiate keeping national interest in mind, and national interest is paramount in all our global engagements," he added.

Since returning to office in January, Trump has launched a tariff campaign aimed at protecting US manufacturers. It culminated on April 2 with a set of measures on what he called 'Liberation Day', including a blanket 10% tariff and up to 70% on countries he accused of treating the US most "unfairly."

"India wants a trade deal where it would get market access in its areas of interest, including labor-intensive goods, and it should have sustained preference over other countries in these areas," a source familiar the matter told the Hindu BusinessLine. Some Indian media outlets have reported that a trade deal with the US is in its conclusion phase, while others said an agreement would be finalized in stages. "India has already offered to bring down tariffs in a number of sectors for American goods while insisting that its red lines in sensitive areas, including agriculture and dairy, be respected," the Times of India cited a source as saying. 

Last week, Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told the Financial Express that the country could not do anything that would weaken its agriculture or the positions of its farmers. In the 2024-25 fiscal year, bilateral trade between India and the US touched $131.8 billion, with a trade surplus of $41.18 billion for New Delhi, according to the Indian Commerce Ministry.

In Trump's second term, the US has signed new trade deals with the UK and Vietnam. Washington has also reached a temporary deal with Beijing to limit tariffs at 30% - after hiking them to 145% in a series of tit-for-tat increases earlier this year.