The government on Tuesday said sensitive agriculture and dairy sectors had been protected in the just-announced India-US trade deal and that full technical details of the agreement would soon be released through a joint bilateral statement.Describing the deal as “the best in the neighbourhood and the best among all Indian competitors”, Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said, “Sensitive sectors like agriculture and dairy have been safeguarded in the deal and no compromise has been made on farmers’ interests.”Goyal rejected Congress-led criticism over US President Donald Trump announcing the deal ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.“The US has reduced the reciprocal tariff from 50 per cent to 18 per cent. Naturally, the information of the tariff cut will come from the country that imposed it in the first place. For a long time, the Opposition kept asking when tariffs would be lowered. Now that this has happened, their double standards are out in the open. The country will teach Rahul Gandhi-led Congress and its allies a lesson for their negativity and anti-nationalism,” Goyal said, attacking the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, who, while responding to the deal earlier, said the PM was compromised.Goyal hit back at the Opposition, saying the PM’s personal ties with the US President enabled the finalisation of a deal that had been stuck for months. “National and citizen interest is at the core of this pact,” the minister added.He said, “Full technical details will be released through a formal India-US joint statement once final processes are completed.” Highlighting the significant tariff reduction by the US in the deal, Goyal said India would now have lower tariffs than other competitors such as Indonesia (19 per cent), Vietnam (20 per cent), Bangladesh (20 per cent) and China (34 per cent).“US reciprocal tariffs on Indian goods have reduced sharply from 50 per cent to 18 per cent, making Indian exports more competitive. Labour-intensive and export sectors will gain strongly, creating large employment opportunities. This includes textiles, apparel, leather, footwear, gems and jewellery, plastics, machinery, aircraft components and marine products,” he said.He added that Indian MSMEs and small manufacturers would gain expanded access to US markets, enabling higher exports of engineering goods and auto components.“The deal is expected to attract advanced technologies, data centres, global capability centres, supply-chain integration, and collaboration in semiconductors and AI sectors,” Goyal said, adding that marine and seafood exporters would get relief due to tariff cuts and the pact would help position India as a global supply chain hub.“Aim is to integrate India deeper into global value chains and boost manufacturing competitiveness,” Goyal said.Meanwhile, official sources clarified Trump’s statement that India had agreed to purchase $500 billion worth of American goods. “This is over five years and must be seen in the context of India and the US pledging to take bilateral trade to $500 billion annually,” a source said.On Trump’s claim that the deal would involve India ceasing crude imports from Russia, there was no official reaction, even as the Kremlin said it had not heard from India about any such halt. Privately, Indian officials said oil refineries were free to decide on crude purchases. “If someone wants to buy from sanctioned entities, they can proceed,” said an official, signalling a possible reduction in Indian crude imports from Russia on the back of diversification of crude.Meanwhile, an SBI Research report released on Tuesday flagged energy savings as a major gain from the India-US trade deal, saying India could lower its annual fuel import bill by up to $3 billion by diversifying crude oil sourcing away from Russia.