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The US being export heaven for Indian exporter, the recent government data showed that the US remained India's largest trading partner for the fourth consecutive year in 2024-25 with bilateral trade valued at $131.84 billion, while the country's trade deficit with China widened to $99.2 billion during the same period. In the fiscal year 2024-25, the country’s exports to China shrank 14.5 per cent to $14.25 billion as against $16.66 billion in 2023-24, however, country’s imports rose by 11.52 per cent in 2024-25 to $113.45 billion against $101.73 billion in 2023-24, leading to widening of trade deficit with China by 17%. China continued to be the second largest trading partner of India with $127.7 billion two-way commerce in 2024-25 as compared to $118.4 billion in 2023-24. 

Think tank GTRI (Global Trade Research Initiative), commenting on India-China trade deficit, has warned that the trade gap reflects deeper structural dependencies and has emphasized the need of fixing India’s internal manufacturing gaps and invest in deep industrial capabilities. It has highlighted that import demand was driven by rising demand for electronics, EV batteries, solar cells, and key industrial inputs -- sectors where China dominates India's supply chains. GTRI also highlighted that the PLI (production linked incentive) schemes are fuelling import growth due to their heavy reliance on imported components. Meanwhile, in last fiscal, UAE was the third largest trading partner of India with bilateral trade of $100.5 billion.

Indian exports to the US increased by 11.6 per cent to $86.51 billion in last fiscal year as against $77.52 billion in 2023-24, while the imports were up by 7.44 per cent to $45.33 billion against $42.2 billion in 2023-24. The trade surplus with US touched $41.18 billion in the last fiscal from $35.32 billion in 2023-24. In 2024, India's main exports to the US included drug formulations and biologicals ($8.1 billion), telecom instruments ($6.5 billion), precious and semi-precious stones ($5.3 billion), petroleum products ($4.1 billion), gold and other precious metal jewellery ($3.2 billion), ready-made garments of cotton, including accessories ($2.8 billion), and products of iron and steel ($2.7 billion). 

Meanwhile, the imports included crude oil ($4.5 billion), petroleum products ($3.6 billion), coal, coke ($3.4 billion), cut and polished diamonds ($2.6 billion), electric machinery ($1.4 billion), aircraft, spacecraft and parts ($1.3 billion), and gold ($1.3 billion). The bilateral trade between India and the US is expected to get a boost in the coming years as both are negotiating a trade agreement. The countries are aiming to increase two-way commerce in goods and services to $500 billion by 2030 from $191 billion at present.