US President Donald Trump has again indicated that a trade agreement with India may be clinched in the near future. His remarks came at a press conference after the United States sealed a trade pact with Indonesia, revealing new details about Washington’s strategy for bilateral trade.
We made a deal with Indonesia. I talked to their terrific president.and we made the deal. We have total access to Indonesia, everything,” Trump said in a press conference.
The President highlighted the importance of the deal, especially in terms of copper shipments from Indonesia.
“Indonesia is extremely strong on copper, but we have free access to everything. We are paying no tariffs. They are opening up Indonesia to us, which we did not have before. That’s probably the largest portion of the agreement.India is essentially following down that same track,” he said.
India-US Trade Talks Intensify in Washington
Trade talks between India and the US are already underway. A Indian Commerce Ministry delegation is in Washington currently, with Chief Negotiator Rajesh Agarwal soon joining the negotiations. Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal recently confirmed the talks are progressing at a “very fast pace” and aim to bring mutual benefits to both countries.
#WATCH | US President Donald Trump says, “We made a deal with Indonesia. I spoke to their really great president…and we made the deal. We have full access to Indonesia, everything. As you know, Indonesia is very strong on copper, but we have full access to everything. We will… pic.twitter.com/hSFArf17Ly
— ANI (@ANI) July 15, 2025
President Trump also emphasized the wider effect of tariffs as a bargaining chip.
“We’re going to have access into India. You have to understand, we had no access to any of these countries. Our people couldn’t go in and now we’re getting access because of what we’re doing with the tariffs…,” Trump added.
Tariff Pressure Ahead of August Deadline
This diplomatic initiative is under way even as renewed pressure from the Trump administration has seen over 20 countries reportedly receive tariff warning letters, with August 1, 2025, set as the deadline for retaliatory tariffs to kick in. India is surprisingly not included on this list of countries, perhaps because of the on-going negotiations.
A report by Bloomberg indicates that the US is mulling cutting suggested tariffs on Indian products to less than 20%, from 26% initially considered in April.
With momentum picking up and top-level negotiators at play, the India-US trade agreement looks to be on a promising trajectory.
