Washington, Oct 21 (NVI) US President Donald Trump has said India and his country are “pretty close” to reaching a trade deal, which will be much different than the earlier pacts.
India and the US in February announced the finalisation of the framework for the first phase of the bilateral trade agreement (BTA).
However, changes in the tariff landscape in the US have led to further negotiations on the pact.
“They want to make a deal. We’re going to make a deal. Pretty close, yeah,” Trump said in response to a question during a media interaction.
“It’s going to be a much different kind of deal than we’ve done,” he added.
Trump’s remarks came while US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is in India and discussed strengthening of bilateral relations focussing on sectors such as trade, energy, technology, defence and people-to-people ties.
Earlier, Rubio also said Washington was “trying to finalise a trade deal with India” and was “very close to doing that”.
Earlier this month, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal met US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer in Milwaukee and Washington to discuss the finer aspects of the trade deal.
He recently said the first tranche of the India-US bilateral trade agreement had been finalised and was undergoing legal drafting, with the government hoping to complete the process soon. (NVI)
