India-US trade agreement will increase demand for cotton, farmers will benefit: Piyush Goyal & more related News Here

New Delhi: Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Friday said the India-US trade arrangement will increase demand for cotton instead of hurting domestic producers, while increased textile exports will benefit Indian farmers.“This will also not hurt our cotton growers… I can see before my eyes the huge need for more cotton and a huge and wonderful future for our cotton,” Goyal said at the ET Now Global Business Summit.

Explaining the mechanism, he said that India will get the same concession that Bangladesh gets. “The same concession is available to India also. It is called yarn forward. If you buy cotton or yarn from the US and process it and use it to make apparel, you are able to export it to the US at zero duty. This is his established principle. And this way of working will benefit India,” he said.Goyal also said the US reduction in reciprocal tariffs from 50% to 18% as well as access to zero reciprocal tariffs for textiles in Europe have made Indian exports significantly more competitive. Projecting strong growth in sectors such as textiles, leather, footwear, handloom, handicrafts and marine products, he said, “We have become extremely competitive. Let us convert this market penetration into market share.”He said the free trade agreements recently finalized by India are designed to protect sensitive sectors while expanding export opportunities. Major agricultural products like rice, wheat, maize and millet have been excluded from the US agreement to protect the interests of farmers. Similarly, India has not opened up the dairy sector in any of its trade agreements, the minister said, noting that millions of small farmers depend on it for supplementary income.Goyal also said India has signed nine free trade agreements with 37 developed economies in the last three-and-a-half years, effectively opening up access to more than 70% of global trade. These agreements are aimed at providing certainty and predictability for businesses, attracting investments, creating jobs and more deeply integrating India with global markets, he said.“There is no country that has developed while remaining isolated from the global economy,” he said, adding that India’s calibrated openness is designed to balance consumer interests, farmer protection and export-led growth.On the issue of imports, where India and the US are eyeing shipments worth $500 billion over five years, Goyal said India needs coking coal to boost its steel production and the US is a major supplier of the commodity. He said, “…with the US, we hope to get more airplanes in the country, which will be good for our tourism, which will be good for our mobility and hopefully bring down the airfares for all of us… This should open up connectivity to remote areas in the country.” “Very easily I can see just the aviation sector before my eyes, which will probably cater to a hundred billion dollars of imports over the next five years – Boeing aircraft, aircraft engines and spare parts.” Goyal said India has used trade agreements to secure benefits such as investment commitments and better terms for Indian professionals abroad. He said, FTA is not just about tariffs but about “trust, transparency and time-bound certainty” that attracts investment.