DA Editorial Desk |Dhruba Deka
India and the United States have spent most of 2026 announcing that a trade deal is close. This week Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said the first tranche is finalised and in legal drafting. It is welcome news. It is also the kind of news we have heard before, since the framework was announced on 7 February and the interim pact is still unsigned.
The temptation in New Delhi will be to close quickly. Months of talks create their own momentum, and a signing ceremony is a tidy political prize. The government should resist it. Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal was right to say the deal will be finalised only once Washington’s tariff structure is settled and the outcome of its Section 301 investigations is known. An agreement signed before those questions are answered would be a promise without a price tag.
India’s position is stronger than the pace of talks suggests. The United States is its largest export destination, but it also runs a deficit of roughly 34 billion dollars with India, and American firms want access to a fast-growing market. India does not need to negotiate like a supplicant. It needs tariff terms that make its exporters competitive against rivals before the deal takes effect, not after.
There is a harder issue underneath. Washington has threatened tariffs over India’s purchases of Russian oil, and New Delhi has warned that this could damage ties. With Brent above 100 dollars, no Indian government can casually give up affordable crude. Energy security and trade policy are now one conversation, and the public deserves to hear how the government intends to balance them.
Patience is not the same as drift. Both sides should publish a realistic timetable, and India should say plainly which sectors it will protect, especially farm and dairy livelihoods. A deal that arrives in November with clear terms is worth more than one signed this month with fine print still to be written.