India to buy $500 billion in US goods over five years, says Trump official

India has “committed to purchasing $500 billion” worth of American goods over the next five years, said United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday.

Rubio made the announcement following a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The US official had arrived in Delhi on Saturday, ahead of meetings linked to the Quad grouping, which includes India, the US, Australia and Japan.

In a fact sheet published in February after a trade deal was announced between New Delhi and Washington, the US had mentioned that India had “committed” to buying $500 billion worth of US products, including energy, information and communication technology, agriculture and coal.

However, it was later revised to say India “intends” to purchase more American goods.

In a social media post on Sunday, Rubio thanked Sergio Gor, the US ambassador to India, and other American diplomats for their efforts to materialise the deal.

He added that the $500 billion Indian investment would focus on energy, technology and agriculture.

On February 8, Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said that the $500 billion figure that was mentioned in the fact sheet reflected India’s commercial intent rather than a binding obligation.

“We don’t have to,” he told ANI. “We intend to procure certain equipment.”

He added then that purchases would depend on price, quality and demand. He also rejected suggestions that India was required to buy $100 billion worth of US goods annually over five years, saying: “There is no such limitation.”

Rubio’s visit to India comes as Washington seeks to stabilise relations with New Delhi after ties deteriorated over President Donald Trump’s tariff policies, which had briefly raised duties on several Indian exports.

Indian goods had been facing a combined US tariff rate of 50%, including a punitive levy of 25% imposed in August for purchasing Russian oil. In February, Trump removed the additional 25% punitive levy, bringing the effective US tariff rate on Indian imports down to 18%.

This was after India and the US agreed on a framework for the interim trade deal on February 2. The agreement had reduced US tariffs on Indian goods to 18% from 25%.

Edited by Sneha.