Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday held talks with his US counterpart, Howard Lutnick, for the second time this week over the India-US bilateral trade deal, as both sides are negotiating before US President Donald Trump’s tariffs come into effect in July. In a post on X, Goyal said his “constructive” meeting with Lutnick focused on deepening economic ties between India and the United States, with room for exploring new opportunities for collaboration in trade and investment. “Held a constructive meeting with Secretary @HowardLutnick for a mutually beneficial trade agreement. Committed to enhancing opportunities for our businesses and people,” Goyal said. Held a constructive meeting with Secretary @HowardLutnick for a mutually beneficial trade agreement. Committed to enhancing opportunities for our businesses and people. ?? ?? pic.twitter.com/WiADbGNkif — Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) May 22, 2025 This was the second meeting between Goyal and Lutnick this week, as the duo also held talks on Monday to expedite the first tranche of the bilateral trade pact between the two countries. An Indian delegation led by Goyal is in the US for talks over the trade deal. India and the United States are intensifying discussions to finalise a scaled-down version of their bilateral trade agreement within the next 45 days, even as the full pact is expected to take shape by September or October, according to Moneycontrol. The trade deal is expected to be in three tranches, and will likely cover areas including industrial goods, farm products, and some non-tariff barriers, such as quality control requirements, as per reports. To boost bilateral trade, India is seeking duty concessions for labour-intensive sectors like textiles, gems and jewellery, leather goods, garments, plastics, chemicals, shrimp, oil seeds, chemicals, grapes, and bananas in the proposed pact with America. On the other hand, the US wants duty concessions in sectors like certain industrial goods, automobiles (electric vehicles in particular), wines, petrochemical products, dairy, agriculture items such as apples, tree nuts and GM (genetically modified) crops. The India-US trade deal would mark a significant milestone in economic relations between the world’s largest and fifth-largest economies, potentially opening new avenues for bilateral commerce and investment. Last week, US President Donald Trump said that India has proposed eliminating all tariffs on American goods, noting that he is in no hurry to finalise a trade deal with New Delhi. However, the Indian government did not give any confirmation of Trump’s remark. (with agency inputs)