NEW DELHI: Union minister Piyush Goyal on Monday drew a parallel between trade and sport, remarking that the United States’ 18 per cent tariff on Indian goods mirrored the margin by which India defeated the US in their T20 World Cup match. Goyal praised the performance of the US cricket team despite its loss, using the occasion to make a pointed comment on trade ties between the two countries. He was speaking at a reception hosted at the residence of US Ambassador Sergio Gor.
“The US may not have won yesterday’s match (against India in the T20 World Cup), but I must say, for a country which has not known Cricket and has started on Cricket a few years ago, the performance was fabulous,” Goyal said.Recalling a light-hearted exchange with the ambassador during the match, he added, “Sergio was there to enjoy the match… Sergio pointed out one very important factor – the US lost the match by 18% and a very humble request I made to him as a suggestion that if only you had made the reciprocal tariff zero, you would possibly have won the match.”Goyal said he was impressed by the progress made by the US side in the sport. “I was indeed amazed by the fabulous performance US cricket team did..,” he said, referring to what he described as the rapid rise of cricket in a country with limited exposure to the game until recent years.India and the United States on Saturday issued a joint statement outlining the details of the recently announced trade pact, under which tariffs on Indian products entering US will drop from 50% to 18%. The development follows months of negotiations that started back in February 2025. For India, the deal will reduce duties on a range of items such as textiles and apparel, leather and footwear, plastic and rubber goods, organic chemicals, home decor, artisanal products and select machinery. For US, India will scrap or lower duties on the full range of American industrial products as well as on a wide selection of farm and food items, including dried distillers’ grains, red sorghum used for animal feed, tree nuts, fresh and processed fruits, soybean oil, and wine and spirits.
