Month: December 2025

New Delhi (TIP)- Amid ongoing tensions over trade, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Thursday, Dec 11, that the US should sign the free trade agreement with India on the “dotted lines” if the Donald Trump administration is satisfied with New Delhi’s proposals. He was responding to comments made by US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer in Washington, who described India’s offer as the “best ever” received by the United States.
He welcomed that assessment but declined to disclose the contours of India’s offer. He also refrained from setting any timeline for the conclusion of the long-discussed free trade agreement between the two nations. “His happiness is very much welcome. And, I do believe that if they are very happy, they should be signing on the dotted lines,” Goyal said. The minister’s comments came as India and the United States concluded two days of trade discussions in New Delhi. According to commerce ministry sources cited by PTI, both sides reviewed progress on the bilateral trade agreement and exchanged views on market access, regulatory issues and investment frameworks.
He said that five rounds of negotiations have taken place so far and emphasised that the ongoing visit of US Deputy Trade Representative Rick Switzer is not centred around negotiations. Switzer’s trip, the first since taking office three months ago, is intended to build familiarity and strengthen working relationships, Goyal added, describing his talks with the visiting official as “substantial”.
As the discussions concluded in New Delhi, the officials said the discussions were “purposeful and positive” and the momentum reflected both governments’ intent to narrow differences that have slowed the negotiations in recent years. The high-level US delegation led by Switzer met Goyal, Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal and senior officials across several ministries. Indian officials said the visit helped reinforce political direction from leaders to accelerate talks.
India and the US are currently working to complete the first tranche of the trade agreement following instructions from their leaders earlier this year. Six negotiation rounds have been held so far. The initial package is expected to tackle tariff rationalisation, access for services, digital trade and a handful of long-standing irritants that have shaped India–US commercial ties.

New York(TIP)- A Federal Reserve split over where its priorities should lie cut its key interest rate on Dec 10, but signaled a tougher road ahead for further reductions. Fulfilling expectations of a “hawkish cut,” the central bank’s Federal Open Market Committee lowered its key overnight borrowing rate by a quarter percentage point, putting it in a range between 3.5%-3.75%.
However, the move carried caution flags about where policy is headed from here and featured “no” votes from three members, which hasn’t happened since September 2019. The 9-3 vote again featured hawkish and dovish dissents – Governor Stephen Miran favored a steeper half-point reduction while regional Presidents Jeffrey Schmid of Kansas City and Austan Goolsbee of Chicago backed holding the line. In Fed parlance, hawks are generally more concerned about inflation and favor higher rates while doves focus on supporting the labor market and want lower rates.
This was the third consecutive “no” vote from Miran, who leaves the Fed in January, and the second straight from Schmid. The previous three-dissent meeting also featured a 2-1 divide from members conflicted between the need for tighter and looser monetary policy.
The post-meeting rate statement repurposed language from the FOMC meeting a year ago.
“In considering the extent and timing of additional adjustments to the target range for the federal funds rate, the Committee will carefully assess incoming data, the evolving outlook, and the balance of risks,” the statement said.
When the language was used in December 2024, it signaled that the committee likely was done cutting for the time being. The FOMC then did not approve any reductions until the September 2025 meeting.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell, at his post-meeting news conference, said the reduction puts the Fed in a comfortable position as far as rates go.
“We are well positioned to wait and see how the economy evolves,” Powell said.
Stocks rose following the decision, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average adding 500 points. Treasury yields moved mostly lower.
“We’re in the high end of the range of neutral,” Powell added. “It’s so happened that we’ve cut three times. We have we haven’t made any decision about January, but as I said, we think we’re well positioned to wait and see how the economy performs.“
With a third consecutive cut now made, the focus turns to where the FOMC heads from here.
The closely watched “dot plot” of individual officials’ expectations on rates indicated just one cut in 2026 and another in 2027 before the federal funds rate hits a longer-run target around 3%. Those projections were unchanged from the September update, but the plot reflected divisions within the committee about where rates should head.
Along with the two “no” dovish votes on the rate cut, four other nonvoting meeting participants registered “soft dissents” indicating that they did not go along with the decision. Seven officials also indicated they want no cuts next year. FOMC meetings feature 19 participants among the governors and regional presidents, 12 of whom vote.
“The discussions we have are as good as any we’ve had in my 14 years at the Fed, very thoughtful, respectful, and you just have people who have strong views, and we come together and we reach a place where we can make a decision,” Powell said.
On the economy, the committee raised its collective view of gross domestic product growth for 2026, boosting its September projection up by half a percentage point, to 2.3%. The committee continues to expect inflation to hold above its 2% target until 2028.
On inflation, prices remain stubbornly high, with the Fed’s preferred gauge putting the annual rate at 2.8% in September, the most recent month for which data is available. While that’s considerably off the peaks of a few years ago, it’s still well north of the central bank’s 2% target.
In addition to the rate decision, the Fed also announced it will resume buying Treasury securities, following up on an announcement at the October meeting that it would halt its balance sheet runoff this month. The move comes amid concerns about pressures in overnight funding markets.
The central bank will start by buying $40 billion in Treasury bills, beginning Friday. From there, purchases are expected to “remain elevated for a few months” and then likely will be “significantly reduced”.