Commerce minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday said India and the US can finalise a larger trade deal "much fast" and expressed hope to achieve a bilateral trade target of USD 500 billion in the next five years.
Addressing a CII event here, the minister said, "Hopefully, we will close the first set of the limited engagement which we have already discussed and nearly finalised (by) US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and me. We will get into legal vetting and close that quickly."
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump on Tuesday held delegation-level talks on key issues such as trade and energy cooperation.
The minister said that both the leaders have decided to formally engage to move towards a free trade agreement (FTA) between the two big economies.
When asked how fast India and the US can finalise an FTA, he said, "I would personally think that we can do a much larger trade deal much fast."
Citing reasons for his expectations, he said that the rule of law is ...