India US Trade Deal: The long-running interim trade deal negotiations between India and America have now reached the final stages. US Ambassador to India Sergio Gore has claimed that only 1 percent of the proposed trade agreement is left to be finalized.

He expressed hope that this agreement can be signed in the next few weeks or months. Meanwhile, a high-level delegation of American negotiators will reach New Delhi between June 1 and 4 and hold further talks.

US Ambassador Sergio Gore said in IIT-Delhi

US Ambassador to India Sergio Gore, a close aide of US President Donald Trump, addressed the program organized at IIT-Delhi on Friday. Speaking on the topic ‘US-India Trust Initiative: Advancing Partnership in Research and Innovation’, he said that both the countries should further strengthen cooperation in areas such as artificial intelligence (AI), pharmaceuticals, quantum computing and critical minerals.

American delegation will come to India next week

This week, the Commerce Ministry said that a delegation led by America’s chief negotiator will visit India from June 1 to 4. This visit is being considered as the next step towards finalizing the interim bilateral trade agreement between the two countries. Earlier, the team of Indian negotiators had gone to Washington between 20 and 23 April, where the final points of the agreement were discussed.

‘Only 1% work left’, agreement will be reached soon

Sergio Gore said that the interim trade agreement is now ready to be finalized and will boost the prosperity of both countries. He said, ‘India had sent its team to Washington to finalize the last 1 percent of this trade agreement. Next week we will welcome the American delegation to India and take the talks forward. We have full hope that this agreement will be reached in the coming few weeks or months.

Trade increased from 20 billion dollars to 220 billion dollars

Gore said that in the last two decades, trade in goods and services between India and America has increased from $ 20 billion to more than $ 220 billion. He said that this is a proof of the growing economic partnership, deep relations and strong economic integration between the two countries.

What is the goal of the Trump administration?

According to Gore, President Donald Trump’s aim is to create a business environment that can provide unprecedented opportunities to American companies and employees. He said that India is among America’s most important trading partners. On February 7, India and the US issued a joint statement agreeing on a framework for an interim trade agreement. In this framework, it was said to promote mutual and beneficial trade for both the countries. The commitment to continue negotiations on a comprehensive bilateral trade agreement (BTA) was also reiterated.

Why does America want a quick agreement?

According to people associated with the matter, the American administration seems more eager to complete this agreement soon. A major reason behind this is the US mid-term elections to be held in November. The Trump administration wants to register a major economic achievement before these elections. However, the Indian side is not in favor of accepting any such proposal, which would affect the interests of the farmers and domestic producers of the country. Especially on issues like further opening up of the agriculture sector, India is adopting a cautious stance.

Pressure of not getting a big deal with China

Sources say that no major economic agreement could be reached during Trump’s recent visit to China. This has increased the pressure to quickly complete the trade agreement with India. A source said that China has not shown any indication of increasing its purchases of American agricultural products, especially soybeans.

On which issues are talks going on?

According to the Commerce Ministry, India is also taking forward negotiations on a comprehensive trade agreement along with finalizing the final details of the interim agreement. These include market access, non-tariff measures, customs and trade facilitation, and economic security issues.

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Partnership increasing with new technologies

Sergio Gore said that the main reason for the growth in India-US trade relations is innovation, investment and high-value sectors like digital trade, advanced manufacturing, energy and emerging technologies. He said that new and important technologies are changing the global balance of power and India and America’s partnership in this field is in the best position.

‘Become the most important strategic partnership of the 21st century’

Gore said that he wishes that India-US relations be established as the most important strategic partnership of the 21st century.

Increasing cooperation through trust initiative

He said that the Trump administration has identified ‘new power centres’ like India. Under this thinking, ‘Transforming the Relationship Utilizing Strategic Technologies’ i.e. TRUST initiative was started. This initiative started during the meeting between Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, when Trump started his second term. Its objective is to promote innovation with trusted partner countries and ensure the security of sensitive technologies. Gore said that under the bilateral AI infrastructure roadmap, the US Commerce Department has resumed the supply of advanced AI chips.