Trade deal impetus for more industrial collaboration: US

Hours after the announcement of the India-US trade deal, HT sat down with Jacob Helberg, US Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy and Environment, who said the agreement creates a lot of positive momentum.

- Shashank Mattoo

Helberg, in first comments by a top Trump administration official after the deal, said it will free up a lot of political oxygen that can be channelled towards specific, tactical projects. He also spoke about his plans for a visit to India for the AI Impact Summit this month and the Pax Silica initiative, which India has been invited to join.

‘The US-India trade deal has just been announced. How will this impact bilateral ties?

Discussions between the US and India had been ongoing on critical technologies, even while the trade deal was being negotiated and finalized. Those discussions never stopped, and we're excited that the successful conclusion of the US-India trade deal actually creates a lot of positive momentum to deepening our industrial collaboration. Our latest initiative Pax Silica is not a trade deal. Itreally is more a framework to enable industrial collaborative projects, especially between companies, and we think that now that the trade deal is finalized, it will actually help create a lot of momentum and free up a lot of political oxygen that can be channelled towards specific, tactical projects.

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