US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that the US and India are close to finalising a trade deal after more than a year of negotiations. His statement came as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in Mumbai on Tuesday.
“They want to make a deal. We’re going to make a deal. Pretty close, yeah,” Trump was quoted by Bloomberg as saying on Tuesday when asked by reporters at the White House about the prospects for an agreement.
The president said it “could be a much different kind of deal,” without elaborating.
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Donald Trump and Marco Rubio have said the countries are close to an agreement. Rubio said only a small number of items, including technical details, remain to be resolved.
Rubio said he expected the agreement to materialise in weeks, not months, and that the remaining issues could be wrapped up shortly. The deal has not yet been finalised.
Rubio said both sides need to agree on every detail and ensure the wording means the same thing to each country. He cautioned that announcing an incomplete deal could threaten the relationship.
The waiver removed one potential obstacle in negotiations, as the tariffs could have affected Indian products. The articles describe it as easing a complication, not as completing the deal.
India is seeking a tariff advantage for its exporters in the US market compared with competitors such as Bangladesh, Vietnam and Indonesia. Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said the first tranche was in its final contours and legal-drafting stage.
Trump's remarks came amid US Secretary of State Marco Rubio's visit to India this week.
Marco Rubio is on an official visit to India from October 20 to 21 at the invitation of External Affairs Minister Jaishankar, marking his second visit to the country following an earlier trip to New Delhi in May.
At the Freedom 250 reception in Mumbai, Rubio also revealed that the India-US trade deal is “incredibly close”, indicating that finalisation is anticipated shortly, news agency ANI reported.
Speaking to Network18, Rubio noted that while he is not directly engaged in the negotiations, which are handled through the trade representative, he has closely monitored the discussions and expects the agreement to materialise in a matter of weeks, not months.
Elaborating on the final stages, Rubio highlighted the need for absolute precision before public announcements to safeguard the bilateral ties of such high importance.
He said, “I felt that way before, and with these deals, it’s always important that it would be totally agreed to, every detail of it, before it’s announced because you can’t afford for a relationship of this magnitude to be threatened by announcing a deal and it turning out the deal wasn’t finalised."
"But it’s incredibly close. I think we are down to some technical details that need to be worked out. Technical details matter because there has to be an agreement; both sides have to agree that the language means the same thing. So, it’s down to that level,” he was quoted as saying.
India and US on trade deal
Both US and Indian officials have recently made optimistic comments about the chances of an agreement, which would break a long-running stalemate over trade between Washington and New Delhi.
US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor said last week at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in New Delhi that “the big items are done” and that the two countries are very close to “landing it”.
That followed remarks by Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar in which he said he was encouraged by progress in trade talks and that both sides were “heading toward a landing point.”
Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal had also said the "first tranche" of the deal would be finalised soon.
"It's going through the final contours, the legal drafting, and we hope to be able to finalise that soon and operationalise that once we get comparable advantage or competitive advantage over our peer countries," a statement from his office quoted him as saying at an event in New Delhi.
According to Reuters, Goyal was referring to New Delhi's efforts to secure a tariff advantage for Indian exporters over competing economies such as Bangladesh, Vietnam and Indonesia in the US market.
Trump late Friday waived tariffs of as much as 100% on buyers of Russian oil and gas — duties that would have hit Indian products and complicated trade negotiations.
US targets $500 bn bilateral trade with India in three years
US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor said recently that the US has set an ambitious target to double its bilateral trade with India to over $500 billion within the next three years, up from a record-breaking $240 billion.
Addressing business leaders and diplomats at the Freedom 250 reception in Mumbai, Ambassador Gor highlighted the deepening economic and strategic partnership between the two nations.
He noted that President Donald Trump sent him to India with a clear mandate -- "Deliver results. Don't just talk about the future. Make it happen."
"In their recent discussions, President Trump and Prime Minister Modi reaffirmed that commitment," Gor was quoted by ANI as saying.
He said, "Today, our bilateral trade has shattered records, reaching over $240 billion. We have an ambitious goal. We are laser-focused on driving that number past $500 billion in the next three years."