Goyal confident of deal with US by Aug 1

"I'VE HAD SOME wonderful engagements with my friend and colleague from the US," he said in an apparent reference to US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick.

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The minister's statement boosts the prospects of an interim deal with Washington, ahead of the slated visit of a US team to India in the second half of August to carry forward the negotiations for the first tranche of the bilateral trade agreement (BTA).

Sources here had earlier told FE that even as the visit of US negotiators for the six round of talks is scheduled, both sides would remain "engaged through (other) means on an interim arrangement that will enable New Delhi to avoid reciprocal tariffs".