NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi stated there had been “vital progress” in long-running talks with Washington for a commerce deal, based on an announcement issued on Thursday (Jun 18) after his assembly with President Donald Trump.
The leaders met on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Evian in France on Wednesday, their first face-to-face talks since February 2025 in Washington.
“The leaders famous with specific satisfaction the numerous progress made in negotiations in the direction of an interim Bilateral Commerce Settlement”, a readout of the assembly from India’s overseas ministry learn.
Requested if the US and India are near a commerce deal, Trump informed reporters in Evian that they had been “very shut”.
“He is a really powerful negotiator, one of many hardest, really. So that you take a look at this man, I am going to provide you with a lesson,” stated the US president.
“He is essentially the most lovely trying man. He appears to be like so good. He is like an angel, however really he is a killer.”
The Indian assertion stated the leaders had ordered officers to work in the direction of placing a “commercially significant settlement on the earliest”.
US Commerce Consultant Jamieson Greer will go to India subsequent week for the most recent spherical of talks.
Washington and New Delhi have set a goal of boosting bilateral commerce to US$500 billion by 2030, holding a number of rounds of negotiations in a bid to resolve market entry and tariff disputes.
The 2 international locations reached an preliminary understanding for the commerce deal in February, however negotiations slowed after Trump’s sweeping tariff measures had been struck down by the US Supreme Court docket.
After the court docket order, the Trump administration launched investigations into unfair trade practices in opposition to a number of international locations, together with India, whereas imposing a blanket 10 per cent tariff.
India’s Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal stated in early June that the international locations had been “about 99 per cent” achieved with the primary tranche of a commerce deal.
Modi additionally urged Trump to make sure the security of Indian seafarers as a part of the implementation of an Iran-US deal geared toward ending the Center East struggle, after three Indian sailors had been killed in a US strike on a industrial vessel off Oman on Jun 10.
The South Asian nation has been laborious hit by the Center East battle, as vitality provides had been throttled by Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz, an important waterway for oil and gasoline transport.
Modi on Wednesday warned that the affect of the struggle would take time to resolve.
“The disruptions in gas, fertiliser and meals provide chains brought on by the disaster … will proceed to affect the International South for a substantial interval,” he stated, based on an announcement.
