Trump says US ‘pretty close' to signing trade deal with India, hints at lowering tariff

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday claimed that Washington was getting close to signing a trade deal with India.

 

“We are making a deal with India, a much different deal than we had in the past…We're getting a fair deal, just a fair trade deal. We're getting close…I think we're pretty close to doing a deal that’s good for everybody,” he said.

 

The President was speaking at the swearing-in of Sergio Gor, the next US ambassador to India.

 

Trump reiterated his commitment to the strategic relationship with India and said he has a “fantastic relationship” with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

 

“India is home to one of the world's oldest civilisations, the largest country in the world…We have a fantastic relationship with Prime Minister Modi, and Sergio has only enhanced that, because he's become already friendly with the Prime Minister,” he said.

 

At 38,  Sergio is the youngest US ambassador to India. He is one of the closest aides of Trump and was the Director of the White House Presidential Personnel Office.

 

The President noted that Sergio will work to fortify the US's bond, promote investments in key industries and technologies, increase American energy exports and expand our security cooperation. 

 

Later, while speaking to reporters at the Oval Office, Trump hinted that the US would bring down the tariff on India at some point.

 

"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," he said.

 

India and the US have held five rounds of talks since March for the first phase of the bilateral trade agreement, initially decided to be inked by the "fall of 2025." 

 

The deal aims to more than double trade volumes from the current USD 191 billion to USD 500 billion by 2030. 

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