Signing you in

Only “1%” of the proposed India-US trade deal remains to be finalised and Washington expects the agreement to be signed in the next few weeks following the visit of an American team to New Delhi for further negotiations, US ambassador Sergio Gor said on Friday.

US ambassador to India Sergio Gor at an event celebrating the United States' 250th anniversary at the Bharat Mandapam convention center in New Delhi on May 24 (AFP FILE)Gor, a close aide of President Donald Trump, made the remarks while delivering an address at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Delhi, during which he called for deepening collaboration between the two countries in AI, pharmaceuticals, quantum computing and critical minerals.

A US team led by America’s chief negotiator is set to visit India during June 1-4 to take forward discussions aimed at concluding an interim bilateral trade agreement, the commerce ministry announced this week. This is a follow-up to a visit to Washington by the Indian negotiating team during April 20-23.

“Our current interim trade agreement is on the table for us to finalise and that will unlock prosperity for both of our countries… India had sent a team to Washington DC to finalise the last 1 % of that trade deal,” Gor said, while speaking on the theme “US-India TRUST Initiative: Advancing partnership in research and innovation”.

He added, “Next week, we will welcome a US delegation here to continue those talks. We fully expect that the trade deal will be signed over the next few weeks and months.”

Got noted that India-US trade in goods and services has grown from $20 billion to more than $220 billion in a little more than two decades, reflecting “deeper, broader engagement and stronger economic integration”’. He said that Trump’s “goal is to facilitate bilateral trade in a way that creates unprecedented opportunities for American businesses and workers”, and India is among the top trading partners of the US.

On February 7, India and the US issued a joint statement about agreement on a framework for an interim deal for reciprocal and mutually beneficial trade. The framework also reaffirmed the commitment of both sides to the bilateral trade agreement negotiations.

People familiar with the matter said that there was a greater push from the US side to conclude the proposed trade deal in view of the Trump administration’s desire to claim a key economic victory in the months ahead of the US mid-term elections, scheduled for November. The Indian side, however, is unlikely to agree to anything that is considered disadvantageous to domestic producers and farmers, such as a further opening of the agricultural sector, they said.

According to the commerce ministry, the Indian side is looking to finalise the details of the interim agreement and take forward negotiations under the broader bilateral trade agreement in areas such as market access, non-tariff measures, customs and trade facilitation and economic security alignment.

Gor further said that growth in trade ties is driven by innovation, investment and high value sectors such as digital trade, advanced manufacturing, energy and emerging technologies.

Noting that critical and emerging technologies are reshaping the global balance of power, he said: “I believe no partnership is better positioned to lead that charge than ours… I want us to be ambitious and shape the US-India relationship into the defining strategic partnership of the 21st century.”

The Trump administration has identified “new centres of power” such as India, leading to initiatives such as “Transforming the Relationship Utilising Strategic Technologies” or TRUST, which was launched when Trump met Prime Minister Narendra Modi soon after beginning his second term, Gor said. The goal is to “encourage innovation with our most trusted partners while ensuring sensitive technologies are protected”, he said.

Under the bilateral AI infrastructure roadmap, the US department of commerce has restored the flow of advanced AI chips to partners around the world and steps have been taken to build data centres in India. The two sides also agreed to adapt regulatory regimes to advance innovation, promote investments and deepen cooperation under the Pax Silica framework to support supply chains, he said.

The US imports nearly 40 % of its needs for generic medicines from India because of the trust between the two sides, while the US embassy and consulates in India have secured $20.5 billion in new investments for the next year, including $19 billion from the pharmaceuticals sector, Gor said. He identified space as another dynamic area for cooperation, noting that the partnership in this area has strategic importance as it “addresses emerging threats…provides counterbalance to China’s influence and drives technological innovation”.

While the US has actively recalibrated its export control policies to balance legitimate security concerns with enabling commerce, Washington also appreciates the steps New Delhi has taken on export control modernisation, Gor said. “When both of our countries have strong aligned export control regimes, it creates the foundation for deeper technological cooperation,” he said.

Rezaul H Laskar is the Foreign Affairs Editor at Hindustan Times. His interests include movies and music.