India-U.S. deal does not include any item that would hurt Indian farmers, says Piyush Goyal

The Interim Agreement between India and the U.S. will not include any item that would hurt Indian farmers, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said on Saturday (February 7, 2026), adding that there are several areas where Indian farmers and MSMEs have received duty-free entry into the U.S. market.

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India and the U.S. early Saturday (February 7, 2026) morning issued a joint statement in which they announced that the two countries had reached a framework for an Interim Agreement, and would continue working together towards a more comprehensive Bilateral Trade Agreement.

While U.S. President Donald Trump has already signed an executive order removing the 25% tariffs the U.S. had imposed on imports from India for its trade in Russian oil, Mr. Goyal said that another executive order is expected next week that would reduce the remaining 25% reciprocal tariff to 18%.


India-U.S. trade deal LIVE updates

“We have not included any item where any Indian farmer will be hurt,” Mr. Goyal said at a press conference later in the day. “All sensitive items have been kept out of the deal. No genetically modified items will enter India, and no tariff relief has been given [to the U.S.] on meat, poultry, dairy, soybean, maize, rice, wheat, sugar, millets, fruits such as bananas, strawberries, cherries, citrus fruit, greenpea, kabuli chana, moong, oilseeds, ethanol, and tobacco.”