The United States could finalise a trade deal with India that would allow American companies to compete in the country, US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, he said that India was ready to lower taxes for US companies, which could clear the path for an agreement staving off the 26% rate he announced on April 2. The reciprocal tariffs were suspended for 90 days by Trump, but the 10 percent baseline tariff continued to be in effect.
"I think we are going to have a deal with India. And that is going to be a different kind of a deal. It is going to be a deal where we are able to go in and compete," he said.
"Right now, India doesn't accept anybody in. I think India is going to do that, if they do that, we're going to have a deal for less, much less tariffs," he said.
Trumps comments come after hopes of an India-US bilateral trade deal talks hit a deadlock on Tuesday over key agricultural demands, sources told.
According to top government sources, India has refused to budge on dairy, a sector employing over 80 million people in India, many of them smallholder farmers.
"There is no question of conceding on dairy. That’s a red line," a senior government source said.
According to news agency Reuters, Indian officials paid a visit to Washington last week through Monday to reach agreement on a deal with Donald Trump's administration and address lingering concerns on both sides.
Special Secretary Rajesh Agarwal, who is leading the Indian delegation in US, has extended his stay by another day in an attempt to break the impasse.
Earlier, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confirmed Fox News that the US and India are nearing a deal that would lower tariffs on American imports and help India avoid levies, which will be applicable from next week.
"We are very close with India," Bessent told Fox News in response to a question about ongoing progress on trade negotiations.
In an effort to prevent a sharp increase in tariff rates on July 9, when a 90-day tariff pause expires, India is one of over a dozen nations that are currently engaged in negotiations with the Trump administration. India's current 10% "reciprocal" tariff rate may increase to 27%.
"We are in the middle -- hopefully more than the middle -- of a very intricate trade negotiation," Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar told an event in New York on Monday.
"Obviously, my hope would be that we bring it to a successful conclusion. I cannot guarantee it, because there's another party to that discussion," said Jaishankar, who is in the US for a meeting of the China-focused Quad grouping.
"There will have to be give and take," he added, indicating that both sides would need to accommodate each other's concerns.
"We've dealt with Japan. I'm not sure we're going to make a deal. I doubt it," Trump said as he returned to Washington from a trip to Florida.
He claimed that Japan was rejecting American-grown rice, a demand Washington made that he called "an easy one," while selling millions of cars in the US.
Source: India Today