New Delhi: Amid the West Asia conflict, goods exports grew by nearly 15% during the first two and a half months of the current fiscal year, maintaining the pace seen during April.“Even now, if we look at 14 days of April, May and June. I have data till June 14, it (export growth) is 15%,” Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said during an interaction with chartered accountants in Mumbai. Aided by strong oil exports, in view of high prices of crude oil and petroleum products, exports have seen strong growth and Goyal expects this to continue due to the trade agreements being signed.“The UK FTA will become operational from July 15. Wherever you work, whatever sector you are in, tell them how much these things will benefit.” Now with almost zero tariffs, almost the entire Europe market will be open to us. The EU FTA will be signed by December and will be effective by February-March. The one with Switzerland, Norway etc. is already in effect since October.Next in line is a US trade deal, he said, with US Trade Representative Jameson Greer set to land in the capital on Monday for talks on Tuesday and Wednesday, which is seen as a move to get things ready.Additional tariffs of 10% imposed by the Trump administration, after earlier “reciprocating tariffs” were struck down as illegal by the US Supreme Court, are set to expire next month and an agreement is expected to help implement the new tariffs, which are likely to be based on the Section 301 investigation initiated by the USTR against India and other countries.Goyal said Canadian PM Mark Carney, during his meeting with PM Narendra Modi, has indicated his government’s keenness to conclude negotiations for a bilateral trade agreement this year, while Kenya has shown interest in an FTA with India. The government is expected to soon begin negotiations with the South African Customs Union for a trade agreement, the first with Africa. Since coming into FTA mode after not joining the China-led trade bloc RCEP, the government has signed several agreements, mostly with developed countries.
