US President Donald Trump revealed that Washington is close to finalising a trade agreement with India. He made this statement while meeting Bahrain’s Crown Prince and Prime Minister, Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, in the Oval Office on Wednesday.
Trump said, “We’ve made deals with a lot of great places. We have another one coming up, maybe with India. I don’t know, we’re in negotiation. When I send out a letter, that’s a deal.”
He added, “The best deal we can make is to send out a letter, and the letter says that you’ll pay 30%, 35%, 25%, 20%. We have some pretty good deals to announce.”
A senior team from India’s Commerce Ministry is currently in the United States for high-level trade discussions. These meetings aim to push forward the trade negotiations.
Earlier this month, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal made it clear that India won't sign any trade pact in a hurry. He said that India would only agree to a deal that is fully negotiated and meets the country’s economic interests.
On Tuesday, Trump also shared his views on America's trade relationship with India. He said the US is working on getting better access to Indian markets, which has been a long-standing concern for American companies.
Trump explained, “We’re going to have access into India. You have to understand, we had no access into 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.”
According to Trump, high import tariffs have helped the US gain leverage in global trade talks. He claimed that earlier, American businesses struggled to enter key markets, but now that is changing due to his administration's trade policies.
Both countries are currently negotiating a limited trade agreement. This deal would aim to cut tariffs, especially keeping them below 20% on specific goods and services. These could include medical devices, dairy products, and certain technology items, which have been points of discussion in past rounds.
Alongside US-India talks, Trump also announced a new trade agreement with Indonesia. As per the deal, the US will impose a 19% tariff on all Indonesian imports. In return, American goods will be allowed into Indonesia tariff-free.
This agreement replaced an earlier plan that proposed a 32% tariff on Indonesian goods. Trump’s move reflects his tough approach—using tariffs to secure better trade terms for the US.
