India, US close to trade deal for a while: Trump

US PRESIDENT DONALD Trump on Wednesday said India and the US have been very close to finalising a trade deal for some time and that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been a tough negotiator on the agreement.

- MUKESH JAGOTA

“We have had some very good conversations with Prime Minister Modi. We are doing trade deals. A lot of things are happening between the US and India,” Trump told the media after his meeting with Modi on the sidelines of the G-7 Summit at Evian in France.

This was the first in-person meeting between Modi and Trump following the May 2025 India-Pakistan military conflict after the Pahalgam terrorist attack.

To give final touches to the interim trade agreement and hold discussions on a wider Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA), US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer will visit India next week from June 23-24. The USTR visit follows the four-day talks held earlier this month between negotiators from both sides. The US side in the talks was led by Assistant USTR Brendan Lynch.

The interim trade deal is based on the framework agreement reached between the two sides in February that brought down additional duties on Indian products to 18% from 50% in return for duty-free access for its manufactured products in Indian markets. The agreement also talks of India buying $500 billion worth of goods from the US over five years.