Nirmala Sitharaman says India-US trade talks have reached a plateau

India and the United States have reached a plateau in their trade deal talks, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Monday, signalling that the two sides are struggling to make further progress on a key agreement.

Speaking at an event in New Delhi, Sitharaman said pushing beyond the current point would be “very, very difficult” for both countries.

“Maybe if there are rooms to operate from, both sides would do it,” she added.

The comments came after US trade representative Jamieson Greer said last week that an agreement was not imminent following a meeting with Indian trade minister Piyush Goyal in the United States.

“It’s been a hard and very vigorously negotiated agreement. The negotiations are still ongoing,” Sitharaman said.

India and the United States have been negotiating a trade agreement since February 2025 as they seek to deepen economic ties and address long-standing market access issues.

Sitharaman said the trade balance between the two countries was in India’s favour, while the deficit was Washington’s.

“They would want to reduce that imbalance,” she said.

Reuters reported earlier this year that India was holding out for better terms in the trade deal with the US.