Trump Says India Trade Deal Pretty Close While Rubio’s in Mumbai – Calls It a Much Different Kind of Deal
President Trump spoke to reporters at the White House on Tuesday and basically said the deal is pretty close. His exact words were something like, “They want to make a deal. We’re going to make a deal. Pretty close, yeah.” Then he threw in that it “could be a much different kind of deal” than the ones America has done before. He didn’t explain what that means, of course. Just left it hanging there the way he often does.
This is happening while Secretary of State Marco Rubio is over in India. He landed in Mumbai and sat down with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Tuesday. They talked trade, energy, technology, defence – the usual mix. After the meeting the Indian side put out a short statement saying both countries welcomed the progress on the bilateral trade agreement and still want to wrap it up soon.
Rubio has been pretty upbeat himself. He’s been telling people they’re “very, very close” – about as close as you can get without actually signing the thing. In one interview he said 99 percent of the work is done and what’s left is mostly technical language. “We’re weeks, not months, away,” was how he put it. He made a point of saying the State Department doesn’t negotiate these trade deals – that’s the trade representative’s job – but he’s been watching it closely because of the national security angle.
He’s also been pushing India to buy more American energy and tech. There’s this big target floating around of $500 billion in bilateral trade in the next few years, and energy is a big chunk of that. Rubio is even heading to the Reliance refinery in Jamnagar, which tells you how much the energy side matters right now.
It’s been a bumpy road to get here. Tariffs have been a constant headache, and India’s purchases of Russian oil nearly brought heavy penalties. Trump waived some of those threatened tariffs recently, which seems to have helped the mood. Rubio said those decisions weren’t meant to punish India and that the relationship has to be managed carefully.
The talks themselves have dragged on for more than a year and a half. There was a framework earlier, but the final bits kept getting stuck – farm products, market access, the energy questions. Indian officials have said at times the negotiations hit a plateau where neither side wanted to give much more. Still, both sides keep saying the overall direction is good.
If this actually gets finished it could mean lower tariffs both ways and a bit more certainty for businesses. Indian exporters have been hoping for better terms than some of their competitors. On the American side there’s clear interest in selling more energy, defence gear and technology. Trump’s line about a “different kind of deal” has people wondering if it will go beyond the usual tariff cuts.
Nothing’s signed yet, though. Rubio was careful to say you don’t announce these things until every last detail is locked down, because the relationship is too important to risk a public mess-up. But with Trump saying it’s pretty close and Rubio talking in terms of weeks, the tone from both sides feels more hopeful than it has in a while.
Whether those last technical points get sorted quickly will decide if this optimism turns into an actual agreement that the leaders can put their names on. For now the message is simple: they’re close, they want it done, and it might look a bit different from the usual trade pacts.
Sources: Trump’s remarks as reported by Bloomberg; Rubio’s comments in Mumbai and interviews with The Indian Express and Network18; Ministry of External Affairs statement after the Jaishankar-Rubio meeting; reporting from Hindustan Times, Indian Express, LiveMint, Business Today and India Today.
Trump Says India Trade Deal Pretty Close While Rubio’s in Mumbai – Calls It a Much Different Kind of Deal
President Trump spoke to reporters at the White House on Tuesday and basically said the deal is pretty close. His exact words were something like, “They want to make a deal. We’re going to make a deal. Pretty close, yeah.” Then he threw in that it “could be a much different kind of deal” than the ones America has done before. He didn’t explain what that means, of course. Just left it hanging there the way he often does.
This is happening while Secretary of State Marco Rubio is over in India. He landed in Mumbai and sat down with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Tuesday. They talked trade, energy, technology, defence – the usual mix. After the meeting the Indian side put out a short statement saying both countries welcomed the progress on the bilateral trade agreement and still want to wrap it up soon.
Rubio has been pretty upbeat himself. He’s been telling people they’re “very, very close” – about as close as you can get without actually signing the thing. In one interview he said 99 percent of the work is done and what’s left is mostly technical language. “We’re weeks, not months, away,” was how he put it. He made a point of saying the State Department doesn’t negotiate these trade deals – that’s the trade representative’s job – but he’s been watching it closely because of the national security angle.
He’s also been pushing India to buy more American energy and tech. There’s this big target floating around of $500 billion in bilateral trade in the next few years, and energy is a big chunk of that. Rubio is even heading to the Reliance refinery in Jamnagar, which tells you how much the energy side matters right now.
It’s been a bumpy road to get here. Tariffs have been a constant headache, and India’s purchases of Russian oil nearly brought heavy penalties. Trump waived some of those threatened tariffs recently, which seems to have helped the mood. Rubio said those decisions weren’t meant to punish India and that the relationship has to be managed carefully.
The talks themselves have dragged on for more than a year and a half. There was a framework earlier, but the final bits kept getting stuck – farm products, market access, the energy questions. Indian officials have said at times the negotiations hit a plateau where neither side wanted to give much more. Still, both sides keep saying the overall direction is good.
If this actually gets finished it could mean lower tariffs both ways and a bit more certainty for businesses. Indian exporters have been hoping for better terms than some of their competitors. On the American side there’s clear interest in selling more energy, defence gear and technology. Trump’s line about a “different kind of deal” has people wondering if it will go beyond the usual tariff cuts.
Nothing’s signed yet, though. Rubio was careful to say you don’t announce these things until every last detail is locked down, because the relationship is too important to risk a public mess-up. But with Trump saying it’s pretty close and Rubio talking in terms of weeks, the tone from both sides feels more hopeful than it has in a while.
Whether those last technical points get sorted quickly will decide if this optimism turns into an actual agreement that the leaders can put their names on. For now the message is simple: they’re close, they want it done, and it might look a bit different from the usual trade pacts.
Sources: Trump’s remarks as reported by Bloomberg; Rubio’s comments in Mumbai and interviews with The Indian Express and Network18; Ministry of External Affairs statement after the Jaishankar-Rubio meeting; reporting from Hindustan Times, Indian Express, LiveMint, Business Today and India Today.
@Rohit Manral
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