India, US Very Close To Trade Deal, Says US Treasury Secretary

India and the US are “very close” to sealing a bilateral trade deal, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in Washington on Wednesday, according to a report in the New York Post. Bessent expects India to be the first country to reach a deal that would help avoid the reciprocal tariffs announced earlier this month by US President Donald Trump.

The tariffs, originally set to take effect from April 9, were paused for 90 days, except in the case of China, on the eve of their implementation.

India has “fewer non-tariff trade barriers, obviously no currency manipulation, very, very little government subsidies, so that reaching a deal with the Indians is much easier,” the Post quoted Bessent as saying at the event.

A trade delegation had visited India just before the announcement of the reciprocal tariffs, but a deal remained elusive at that time. Talks, however, have continued.

Trump has accused India of maintaining high tariff and non-tariff barriers, which he says contribute to Washington’s trade deficit with New Delhi. He is reportedly pushing India to lower tariffs on agricultural products and automobiles, and to also increase purchases of US defence equipment.

Negotiations with China, on the other hand, are not progressing, Bessent said. The US and China remain locked in a high-stakes standoff, having imposed three-digit-level tariffs on each other.

“Neither side believes that these are sustainable tariff levels, so it wouldn’t be surprising if they went down in a mutual way,” Bessent said.