Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Wednesday that New Delhi has safeguarded the interests of its sensitive sectors in the India-US trade deal while opening up new opportunities for businesses and workers.

Addressing the Lok Sabha, Goyal said the government had drawn clear boundaries around sensitive sectors like agriculture and dairy. “The Indian side has succeeded in ensuring the protection of the interests of its sensitive sectors, namely agriculture and dairy,” he said.

He added that the government’s food and agriculture concerns had been addressed in the framework. “India’s key sensitivities in the food and agriculture sector have been fully taken into account,” Goyal told parliamentarians.

At the same time, he added, this partnership will open up new opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), entrepreneurs, skilled workers and industry.

“This is an important step to strengthen India-US relations and advance our journey towards Viksit Bharat 2047, and also reflects the strong choice between the world’s two largest democracies,” the minister said.

On the energy dimension of the deal, Goyal said the government’s focus is anchored on domestic needs. “I want to make it clear, as the government has repeatedly stated publicly: ensuring the energy security of 140 million Indians is the highest priority of the government,” he said.

While announcing the deal, US President Donald Trump said on Monday that Washington had reduced tariffs on Indian goods to 18 percent in exchange for India lowering trade barriers as well as halting its purchases of Russian oil and instead buying oil from the US and potentially Venezuela.

Goyal also argued that the structure of the agreement is based on the economic complementarity between the two countries. “In the context of future trade opportunities between the two countries, members will understand that India and the United States are largely complementary economies,” he said.

Looking ahead, Goyal said that with the world’s largest economy, this framework agreement will accelerate global growth and innovation in the coming years.

On Tuesday, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said India will reduce tariffs on a “wide range” of US industrial and agricultural goods to zero percent under the trade deal. However, he noted that India will continue to control “certain key areas” that enjoy protection.

“That’s going to go to zero for pretty much everything. When I say virtually, I mean 98-99%. In terms of agriculture, there’s a wide, wide range of agricultural products. So it’s going to go to zero,” Greer said Tuesday in an interview with CNBC Squawk Box.

“India, like every country in the world, including the United States, has some protection around certain key areas where they will continue to control that. We will continue to work on access. But for a variety of things, nuts, wine, spirits, fruits, vegetables, etc., they will go down to zero. That’s a big win,” Greer said. Separately, the USTR said in a post on X that “India will reduce tariffs on a wide range of US industrial and agricultural goods to 0%.