Farmers’ Interests to Take Priority in US Trade Talks

06-Aug-2025 12:56 PM

New Delhi. The Central Government has stressed that in the negotiations for trade agreements with other international partners including America, the interests related to the livelihood of Indian farmers will be given high priority and no harm will be allowed to the farming community.

Responding to a question asked in the Lok Sabha on the India-US trade agreement yesterday, Union Minister of State for Agriculture Ramnath Thakur said that India is actively engaged in negotiations for a bilateral trade treaty with America,

the objective of which is to expand trade and investment and strengthen trade relations between India and America so that a solid foundation can be provided for such development which can prove helpful in ensuring equality, national security and employment generation.

India is very concerned about the sectors with large number of workers and especially the agriculture sector and hence the agreement can be made accordingly.

The Minister of State for Agriculture said that in the current trade talks, special attention is being paid to some specific points.

This includes encouraging bilateral trade by increasing the scope of mutual market access, making integrated efforts to strengthen trade relations, reducing tariff and non-tariff barriers and expanding the supply chain, etc.

The government is fully aware and vigilant about the development and progress of the Indian agriculture sector and the livelihood and income of the farming community and is also paying full attention to the needs of internal food security.

All these facts are being taken care of in trade talks with any country. The Commerce Ministry has already clarified its position on this.

It is worth noting that the US is adopting various tactics to increase pressure on India. The US President has now made a new excuse and indicated to increase the import duty (tariff) on Indian products beyond 25 percent, but India is not perturbed by this.

Five rounds of talks have been held for a bilateral trade agreement with the US, while a US delegation is going to visit India on August 25 to start the sixth round of talks.