India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said trade talks with the U.S. had reached a plateau, adding to growing skepticism around a deal between New Delhi and Washington.
“Negotiations are still ongoing, although we’d like to believe that both sides have reached a plateau beyond which giving or taking might be very very difficult,” Sitharaman said, speaking to the press at the Munich Leaders Meeting in New Delhi on Monday.
The finance minister’s comments come just after U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer last week said a trade agreement was not ‘imminent’ even as the negotiations were ongoing.
Sitharaman’s comments mark the first time India has acknowledged the challenges it faces in closing the trade deal with the U.S.
She said the U.S. wants to “reduce” its trade imbalance with India, and they want to make up “for all that they’ve lost over these years.”
“When you’re talking of trade and trade imbalance being the sole criteria to reduce the imbalance, to what extent beyond negotiation can you go,” Sitharaman said.
The U.S. goods trade deficit with India was $58.42 billion in 2025, a 27.8% increase ($12.7 billion) over 2024. In the first seven months of 2026, this figure was $28.4 billion, as per U.S. data.
Last week, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had reviewed bilateral trade, defense, energy and critical technologies during a call with U.S. President Donald Trump. While Greer said the call was “constructive,” and Modi called it “productive,” Trump did not comment on it.
Trump in February announced an interim trade deal with India, outlining that New Delhi had agreed to “BUY AMERICAN” at “a much higher level.” India, meanwhile, has been seeking preferential tariffs from the U.S. that make its exports to Washington more competitive.
“Both countries stand to lose if no deal is finalized,” Mark Linscott, former assistant U.S. trade representative and senior advisor at the U.S.-India Strategic Partnership Forum, told CNBC.
“US exports currently face higher tariffs in the Indian market,” he said, adding that if India did not strike a deal soon, “it could face much higher tariffs than other countries, and that could be a real problem given that the U.S. market is critical for India.”
Currently, Indian exports to the U.S. face a 10% tariff, following the conclusion of USTR’s investigation into the acts, policies and practices of forced labor in 60 countries.
As per the Indian government, a substantial share of the country’s exports to the U.S., such as generic pharmaceuticals and smartphones, remain outside the scope of the 10% duty.
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