Washington and New Delhi have signalled that negotiations on a landmark trade agreement are nearing completion, with officials working through the remaining details on tariffs, market access and energy purchases.
The White House said Donald Trump’s administration was holding “productive talks” with India on what it described as a “historic trade deal”, reinforcing signs that the two sides are close to sealing an agreement after months of negotiations. Matthew Middleton, a White House spokesman, told IANS that representatives of the administration were still engaged with Indian officials, while stressing that Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi continued to back a closer economic partnership.
The comments came shortly after Piyush Goyal said in The Hague that “we have concluded most of the discussions and are fine-tuning the agreement”. Speaking at the India-Netherlands Business Forum, the commerce and industry minister said India had completed nine free trade agreements in the past four and a half years, underscoring New Delhi’s push to deepen commercial ties even as talks with Washington continue.
The latest signals build on a steady sequence of progress reports from both governments. In June, Sergio Gor, the US ambassador to India, said the proposed pact was “99 per cent there”, with only a few outstanding issues left to resolve. In September, Rajesh Agrawal, India’s commerce secretary, said the deal was “more or less finalised” and that officials were working on a framework for preferential market access before signature.
Negotiations have remained closely watched because they touch on tariffs, market access and energy purchases, areas where the two sides still have different priorities. India and the US announced the framework for the first phase of the trade agreement in February, and Washington later reduced tariffs on Indian goods to 18 per cent from 50 per cent under that framework, according to the reports. Reuters has previously reported that the talks have centred on Indian purchases of US energy, aircraft, precious metals, technology products and coking coal, with New Delhi saying it intends to buy $500 billion of such goods over five years. The US remains India’s largest trading partner, which gives the negotiations broader weight for both economies.
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