New Delhi, Oct. 28 -- India's commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said that under the proposed trade agreement with the United States, India will get a comparative advantage over other countries and preferential access to the US market. The development assumes significance amid growing uncertainty in global trade following the ongoing wars in West Asia and Ukraine. Goyal said in a late Monday night (India time) press briefing, "And in the US also, we will get a comparative advantage from other countries. We will get preferential access. So, now the story has started." Goyal had earlier on Monday said India and the United States had concluded most of the discussions and were fine-tuning the proposed trade agreement. Efforts towards a limited India-US trade deal first began in 2018, during President Donald Trump's first term, but were put on hold under the Biden administration. Talks were revived last year after Trump returned to office. Goyal added that concluded trade agreements and those under negotiation would give India preferential access to $85 trillion of the $115 trillion global GDP.In response to a Mint query, Goyal said the proposed free trade agreement (FTA) with Chile was at an advanced stage of conclusion, while Mexico was keen to secure an early harvest deal. He added that good progress was being made on the proposed Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with Canada. Discussions with Mercosur (Mercado Comun del Sur, or Southern Common Market) could also be accelerated now that elections in Brazil were over. Goyal said countries including Ecuador and several in Africa wanted to sign FTAs with India. India has eight trade negotiations underway. "Egypt has invited us to discuss potentially how we can work more," Goyal said, adding, "We have just started SACU (Southern African Customs Union) negotiations. So, it may take some time." He said negotiations with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which would add the four other Gulf countries and Israel, could take longer because of the West Asia crisis. "The GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council), which would add those four other countries of the Gulf and Israel. These negotiations for obvious reasons because of the West Asia crisis may take some time. Though we are ready to speed up negotiations. These proposed trade deals come in the backdrop of global supply chains getting affected and a global slowdown. "The Eurasia FTA is only about goods. It doesn't include services. Hence, we are still assessing the benefits of entering into that agreement," Goyal said, adding that while many other countries were talking to India and wanted an FTA, "But we also don't have more bandwidth at the moment." In response to a Mint query about building institutional capacity and sectoral expertise for trade negotiations, Goyal said the government had been working to ensure that experience gained in negotiations was retained and used in future agreements. "Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been very focused on this aspect. That our negotiations and all the learnings and effort that's going in should not become a one-time affair. And therefore, in the last three years or so, we've prepared proper manuals which are a guide like a standard operating practice, SOP, towards proper and organized FTA negotiations. Every FTA that we enter into, we prepare a lot of documentation for future reference and to help guide officers in the future because people keep changing. And lastly, I think Indians are basically smarter." Ramita Mishra contributed to the story....