Trump says trade deal with India close to seal with cut in tariffs

By Anjali Sharma

WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump on Tuesday hinted that Washington is coming close to sealing a trade deal with India added that at some point, the US would bring down the tariffs on India.

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

He 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,”.

Trump said the US would lower tariffs “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.”

India’s Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal had said the discussions on the proposed India-US Bilateral Trade Agreement are progressing smoothly, but many sensitive and serious issues remain to be resolved.

“Talks are going on very well. There are many sensitive issues, many serious issues, so naturally, it takes some time,” Goyal added.

India and the US faced headwinds in trade relations since US President Trump announced 25% tariffs on Indian goods effective August 1.

He imposed an additional 2% tariff, totaling 50%, cited India’s continued imports of Russian oil. These tariffs came into effect on August 27.

US delegation led by Assistant US Trade Representative for South and Central Asia, Brendan Lynch, held “positive and forward-looking” discussions with Indian officials in New Delhi in September.

There were 5 rounds of discussions have been held on the agreement’s first phase, which was initially expected to conclude by the autumn of 2025, media reported.