‘Pretty close to doing a deal good for everybody’: Trump on trade talks with India

WASHINGTON, DC : US President Donald Trump on Tuesday (local time) hinted towards coming closer to a trade deal with India. He also said that at some point, the US would bring down the tariffs on India.

Trump made the remarks during the swearing-in ceremony of Sergio Gor as the Ambassador to India.

In his speech, Trump said, “We’re making a deal with India. Much different than we had. Right now they don’t love me but they will love us again. We’re getting a fair deal. They’re very good negotiators so Sergio you will have to take a look at that. I think we’re pretty close to doing a deal that is good for everybody”.

While speaking to reporters at the Oval Office after the swearing-in of Gor, Trump responded to a query on how close the trade deal is with India and whether he would consider lowering the tariffs on New Delhi.

To this, the US President said, “Well, right now, the tariffs are very high on India because of the Russian oil, and they’ve stopped doing the Russian oil. It’s been reduced very substantially. Yeah, we’re going to be bringing the tariffs down. At some point, we’re going to be bringing them down.”

Earlier on November 5, Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal indicated that talks on the India-US Bilateral Trade Agreement are “going on very well”, but said that there are “many sensitive and serious issues” and it would take time.

“Talks are going on very well. There are many sensitive issues, many serious issues, so naturally, it takes some time,” Minister Goyal told ANI, when asked to provide an update on India-US trade talks.

On October 23, negotiators of both countries had a virtual discussion. So far, five rounds of talks have been completed since March for the first phase of the bilateral trade agreement, initially decided to be inked by the “fall of 2025.”

The bilateral trade agreement, formally proposed in February following directives from leaders of both countries, aims to more than double trade volumes from the current USD 191 billion to USD 500 billion by 2030.

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal was in the United States in September, leading high-level trade negotiations as both nations work toward concluding a comprehensive bilateral trade agreement. Goyal was accompanied by a delegation of senior ministry officials, including Special Secretary and India’s Chief Negotiator Rajesh Agrawal.

In mid-September, a team of United States officials led by Assistant US Trade Representative for South and Central Asia, Brendan Lynch, had “positive and forward-looking” discussions with the officials from India’s Department of Commerce in New Delhi, and it was decided to intensify efforts to achieve early conclusion of a mutually beneficial trade agreement. (ANI)