India on Wednesday said negotiations with the United States for a bilateral trade agreement were continuing despite Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s assessment that the talks had reached a “plateau”, while making it clear that the country’s energy sourcing decisions would continue to be guided by national interest.“We continue to remain in touch with the American authorities for conclusion of a mutually beneficial India-US bilateral trade agreement at the earliest,” Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.Asked whether it would have an impact on India’s oil imports, particularly purchases from Russia, Jaiswal said India’s energy sourcing policy remained unchanged.“Our energy sourcing policy is very well known to you. Our energy sourcing is dependent on a national interest,” he said.India, he added, was seeking to meet the energy requirements of its 1.4 billion people at affordable prices through diversified sources.The comments came a day after Sitharaman said the India-US trade negotiations had reached a “plateau”, beyond which further give-and-take could be ‘very, very difficult’. US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer had also recently said that a deal was not imminent.“But maybe if there is room to operate from, both sides would do it,” Sitharaman had said.She said the agreement was still being “hard and very rigorously negotiated”, while highlighting the trade imbalance as a key feature of India-US economic relations.The trade negotiations have acquired an added energy dimension following US legislation that gives President Donald Trump the authority to impose tariffs of up to 100 per cent on countries that continue significant purchases of Russian oil. India has maintained that its energy sourcing decisions are based on its national interest and the need to ensure energy security through diversified supplies.New Delhi and Washington had reached a framework for an interim trade agreement in February, under which the two sides committed to continue negotiations towards a broader bilateral trade agreement.The latest remarks from the MEA indicate that the slowdown in negotiations has not altered India’s stated position on either the trade talks or its broader energy sourcing policy.