US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said India and the United States were “pretty close” to finalising a trade deal after more than a year of negotiations, while signalling that the agreement would differ from Washington’s previous trade pacts.
Speaking to reporters at the Oval Office on Tuesday, Trump said India and the US were pretty close to making a trade deal.
“They want to make a deal. We're going to make a deal. Pretty close, yeah,” Trump said in response to a question.
“It’s going to be a much different kind of deal than we've done," the president said.
Trump late Friday waived tariffs of as much as 100 per cent on buyers of Russian oil and gas — duties that would have hit Indian products and complicated trade negotiations.
Trump’s remarks came at a time Secretary of State Marco Rubio was visiting India and discussed further strengthening bilateral relations focusing on sectors such as trade, energy, technology, defence and people-to-people ties.
Rubio has also indicated that the agreement is nearing completion, saying only a few issues remain to be resolved.
He said the two sides were very close to finalising the agreement, with only a small number of issues left to be addressed.
“I would say we're about as close as you can be without having an executed agreement. I think there's a small number of items left to wrap up,” he said.
Rubio expressed hope that the remaining issues would be settled soon, paving the way for an announcement. “And perhaps the leaders can sign it thereafter,” he added.
Earlier this month, commerce minister Piyush Goyal met US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer in Milwaukee and Washington to discuss the finer details of the proposed pact.
India and the US had announced in February that they had finalised the framework for the first phase of their bilateral trade agreement (BTA). However, subsequent changes in US tariffs led to further negotiations.
US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor recently said at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in New Delhi that “the big items are done” and the two countries were close to “landing it”.
External affairs minister S Jaishankar has also expressed optimism about the negotiations, saying both sides were “heading toward a landing point”.
While the latest statements suggest progress towards a deal, Trump's remark that it would be a “much different kind of deal” leaves its final terms unclear.