Talks between India and the United States on a long-pending trade deal have moved into their final stretch, with a government official in Washington indicating that roughly one to two per cent of the work remains before an accord can be concluded.
An unnamed official conveyed that the thorniest points in the talks had been put to rest, with dialogue pressing forward at the level of heads of government — Trump and Modi among those directly engaged. "That one, one or two per cent is all that remains," a State Department spokesperson told reporters at a Friday briefing.
Talks on the proposed agreement were described as an ongoing process, with the two governments holding high-level exchanges on a weekly basis, according to a statement from an official involved in the negotiations. Pointing to a string of recent contacts — talks conducted by US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, exchanges between India's Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and their American counterpart, and a separate conversation linking Trump with PM Modi — the official described these as indicators that the negotiating process had gathered pace.
One obstacle the official raised had prevented the agreement from advancing. When a court struck down the International Emergency Economic Powers Act — the statute commonly referred to as IEEPA — the legal foundation underpinning the arrangement lost its footing, prompting officials to reconsider what authority the deal could actually rest on, according to a government official. That turn of events sent negotiators back to the table, where reopened points in the draft kept talks running for several months beyond the original timeline.
Notwithstanding those hurdles, the official conveyed a view that the outstanding points of disagreement were on track to be settled in the near term.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio's trip to India — with stops in Mumbai and Jamnagar for talks with government officials and prominent business figures — was set to follow shortly after those comments were made. His itinerary calls for an initial stop in Uzbekistan, where meetings with Central Asian leaders are on the agenda, before the trip continues on to India. Scheduled stops in Mumbai place him across the table from government officials and the heads of some of the nation's largest corporations.
Choosing Mumbai as the destination rather than New Delhi, the official explained, aligned with the administration's broader push to deepen trade ties and attract Indian capital into the American economy. A stop in Jamnagar is also on Rubio's itinerary.
Deeper ties between the two countries across technology, pharmaceuticals, defence, and related industries were among the goals the official outlined for the relationship. Trips by top-level Cabinet members from the United States are expected to follow in the coming year, with both administrations working to deepen ties between the two countries.
