Donald Trump.

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday (local time) hinted at getting closer to a trade agreement with India. He also said that at some point of time, America may reduce tariffs on India. Trump made this comment during the swearing-in ceremony of Sergio Gore as Ambassador to India.

In his speech, Trump said that we are making an agreement with India. They don’t like me right now, but they’ll like us again. We are getting a fair deal. I think we are very close to an agreement that is good for everyone.

Close to trade agreement with India

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office after the swearing-in of Sergio Gore, Trump answered a question on how close a trade deal with India was and whether he would consider reducing tariffs on New Delhi. On this, the US President said that right now, the tariffs on India are very high because of Russian oil, and they have reduced the trade of Russian oil to a great extent. So yes, we are going to reduce the tariffs.

Trump praised India

Earlier, Trump praised India at the swearing-in ceremony of Sergio Gore, who was appointed the new US Ambassador to India and South Asia Special Envoy. Trump said that India is one of the oldest civilizations in the world, the largest country and more than 1.5 billion people live here. He said that our relations with Prime Minister Modi are excellent and Sergio Gore has further strengthened it.

Good talks on bilateral trade agreement

Earlier on November 5, Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal had indicated that talks on the India-US bilateral trade agreement were going very well, but he had also said that there were many sensitive and serious issues and it would take time. Minister Goyal had said that till now five rounds of talks have been completed since March for the first phase of the bilateral trade agreement, which was initially decided to be signed by autumn of 2025.

Trade agreement target is 500 billion dollars

The bilateral trade agreement, formally proposed in February following instructions from the leaders of the two countries, aims to double the trade volume from the current US$191 billion to US$500 billion by 2030. Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal was in the US in September, where he led high-level trade talks as the two countries work towards a comprehensive bilateral trade agreement.

Goyal was accompanied by a delegation of senior officials of the ministry, including Special Secretary and India’s chief negotiator Rajesh Aggarwal. In mid-September, a team of United States officials led by Assistant US Trade Representative for South and Central Asia Brendan Lynch had positive discussions with officials from India’s Commerce Department in New Delhi.