US President Donald Trump has said that the US is "very close" to a trade agreement with India, and it could be finalized in the near future.
"We're very close to a deal with India, where they open it up" to imports from the US, he stated on Wednesday.
At another juncture of his encounter with media, he referred to the trade agreement signed on Tuesday with Indonesia and stated, "We have another one in the offing, possibly with India. I don't know. We're negotiating."
The Indian delegation led by Rajesh Agrawal, special secretary in the Commerce Department, arrived in Washington on Monday and is negotiating with US officials to seal a deal.
The announcement will be only the initial phase of a trade agreement, with a stronger and more comprehensive deal to follow in the fall, as reported by Politico.
That would be the stronger bilateral trade agreement.
Trump addressed reporters with Bahrain's Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa by his side prior to their meeting, during which trade and investments will be on the agenda, he said.
He has been searching for overseas investments in the US and talking of the trillions he is bringing.
Al Khalita stated, "We're very happy to be announcing $17 billion worth of deals that are coming to the United States."
Trump has not issued India the tariffs notice sent to a number of nations charging tariffs as high as 35 per cent on pure trade grounds if they failed to seal a deal by August 1.
That might be indicative that he expects an India agreement imminently.
Trump reported Tuesday that India is negotiating on a trade agreement on the lines of the one concluded with Indonesia.
Under his plan, he said, Jakarta will not impose tariffs on US imports, and the US will impose a 19 percent tariff on Indonesian exports.
Negotiations started as early as February with India, and Trump and US officials have announced on multiple occasions that a trade deal was near, but thus far it has not materialized.
Following US Vice President JD Vance's visit to India in April, US Commerce Secretary Scott Bessent noted that India would be one of the first countries to sign a trade agreement, and it could be early May.
In June, following a call with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Trump stated, "I think Modi is a fantastic man. I spoke to him last night. We're going to make a trade deal with Modi of India."
On the likelihood of an early trade agreement, Bessent had opined that India has "fewer non-tariff barriers to trade, obviously, no currency manipulation, very, very little government subsidies, so that negotiating an agreement with the Indians is much simpler."
However, matters concerning agriculture, access of Indian professionals to the US, and intellectual property have seemingly muddled the negotiations.
A couple of other events are looming over a trade agreement.
Trump has announced that he would levy a secondary tariff of 100 per cent on nations purchasing energy from Russia, if Moscow fails to make peace with Ukraine by early September.
Although it is meant for Russia to throttle its financial pipeline and to put pressure on it for a peace agreement, the punitive tariff would affect India.
Meanwhile, he has discouraged Republican senators from proceeding with a bill that aims to levy a 500 per cent tariff against those purchasing Russian energy.
Another question is a ten per cent tariff Trump threatened against members of the BRICS that he labeled "anti-American."
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