New Delhi: A day after United States President Donald Trump announced that the United States and India have reached a trade agreement, Union commerce minister Piyush Goyal said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on the basis of his “friendship” with the US President and worked out the “best deal” compared to India’s neighbours and surrounding countries. While Goyal did not provide any details of the deal, and said that they will be made public soon, through a joint statement, the minister said that the prime minister had ensured that India’s sensitive sectors including agriculture and dairy would be protected.In the 20-minute long press conference, Goyal focussed more on hitting out at leader of opposition Rahul Gandhi and other opposition leaders and said that the government would have liked to make its statement on the deal in parliament, but could not do so due to the opposition’s behaviour earlier in the House today when the Lok Sabha chair was insulted. While questions were raised about why the deal was announced by Trump, Goyal said that it was the US that had imposed tariffs so it was for them to announce its reduction.While Goyal too did not provide any specifics of the deal he focused on Modi’s friendship in securing the “best deal”.Also read: India-US Trade Deal: The Many Things We Still Don’t Know“We all know that the Prime Minister, leveraging his friendly relationship and close ties with President Trump, has finalised a trade deal with the United States of America that is the best deal India has received compared to all our neighbours, all the surrounding countries, and all the countries that compete with us. This is a great deal for all of us, which will bring us good fortunes. We know that for months our negotiating team had been in dialogue with ministers and teams from the US,” he said.“There were many issues. Reciprocal tariffs had been imposed of 50%. Businesses, marine and sea food exporters, and textile sectors were apprehensive and opposition parties were also asking us when the trade deal will be finalised. Modi has finalised such a good deal, that we could not work out in all these months. He gave leverage to his friendship and put India’s interests first in front of the world due to which India has got such a great deal,” he added.A day earlier, Trump announced a trade agreement under which American reciprocal tariffs on Indian goods will be reduced from 25% to 18%, while India will eliminate all tariffs and non-tariff barriers on US products. Over half an hour after Trump’s post on Truth Social, Modi responded on X, saying he was “delighted that Made in India products will now have a reduced tariff of 18%” . Notably, Modi made no mention of a trade deal being reached, nor did he reference the claims about stopping Russian oil purchases or the USD 500 billion commitment to buy American products that Trump had outlined in his post.Goyal said that the final details will be provided through a joint statement, as the final technical processes are being worked upon.“We stand for the people of India and national interest, and today 140 crore Indians are celebrating a trade deal which is under final stages of detailing between the negotiating teams of both teams. We will be shortly issuing a joint statement along with the details,” he said. “As soon as the final understanding of the deal is inked and a joint statement is finalised, technical processes are completed, full details will be shared. I can assure the people of India that this is a deal that will make every Indian proud, protect every Indian’s interest and provide opportunities and protect interests of our sensitive sectors of agriculture and dairy, opening up huge opportunities for our labour intensive sectors, textiles, plastics, apparel, gems and jewellery, leather, rubber goods, machinery, aircraft components. This is truly a deal that every Indian can be proud of,” he added.While opposition leaders had questioned why the deal, like the ceasefire with Pakistan following Operation Sindoor last May, was announced by Trump, Goyal said that it was US that had imposed the tariffs.“One opposition leader asked why the deal was announced by the US and India. It was the US that had imposed reciprocal tariff, so announcement regarding reduction from 50% to 18% has to come from there. It is obvious, if they are reducing tariffs, President Trump will make that announcement and I thank him for respecting his friendship with Modi and gave him the best deal among our competitors,” the minister said.The only assurance that Goyal provided was that agriculture and dairy sectors will be protected. He did not however make any mention of US Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins’s statement which said that the deal “will export more American farm products to India’s massive market, lifting prices, and pumping cash into rural America.”“The Honorable Prime Minister Modi ji has always taken care of agriculture and dairy, both these sectors, looked after their interests, and continuously worked to ensure that people in this sector get a bright future and better opportunities,” he said. “He has never allowed any compromise with their interests. I am glad that the entire country understands that in the US Trade Deal too India’s sensitive sectors have been protected.”Goyal said that the deal will create technologies, unlock opportunities for farmers, MSMEs, skilled workers, engineering sector, textiles, gem and jewellery, leather and marine goods will be provided opportunities. Much of his press conference remained focused on the opposition.“I would like to thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi on behalf of 140 crore Indians because this deal benefits every Indian, farmer, fisherfolk, women, youth and this will bring great opportunities to us all. We wanted to speak in parliament about this. But we saw the unfortunate scenes in which the opposition, particularly Congress under Rahul Gandhi, and his friends DMK, TMC, how they stormed the Speaker’s chair and insulted him. I condemn the opposition, because of whom I am giving this statement here and not in parliament,” he said in the press conference.“I am fully confident that these leaders, who have been rejected by the people, the failed group of disparate, disgruntled and rejected leaders of the Congress party and their friends, in the DMK, TMC, Samajwadi Party, the entire INDIA alliance, who have failed India very badly, who have failed Bharat in all respects, will be rejected by the people of India who will teach them a lesson for their negativity and anti-India and anti-national thinking.”