Trade negotiations between India and the United States have reached a plateau, India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on October 5, 2026. She warned that further concessions would be “very, very difficult” for both sides. This is New Delhi’s clearest public acknowledgement so far that talks on key issues have stalled, although Sitharaman noted that negotiations are continuing. The two countries have been working towards a bilateral agreement since February 2025.
According to Reuters, the room for compromise has narrowed since President Donald Trump signed into law a bill authorizing tariffs of up to 100% on countries buying significant volumes of Russian oil, including India and China. The week before, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer had said an agreement was not imminent after meeting India’s Trade Minister Piyush Goyal. Sitharaman also pointed out that the trade balance favors India and that Washington would want to reduce the imbalance.
The outcome is directly relevant to the nut and dried fruit industry. Under the interim framework announced in February 2026, India committed to eliminating or reducing tariffs on a wide range of US food and agricultural products, including tree nuts and fresh and processed fruit. A delay in finalizing the agreement postpones any tariff reduction for US-origin products and leaves competitive conditions among supplying origins unchanged for now.
