Milwaukee, Oct 2 (IANS) The India-US trade deal is in the “short strokes” and negotiations are nearing the end, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said, while cautioning that an agreement was not imminent.
Greer said he had a “very constructive” conversation with Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on the sidelines of the G20 Trade Ministers’ Meeting in Milwaukee and officials from the two countries were continuing negotiations.
“Our staff is meeting right now, since they’re in the country and we’re here,” Greer told reporters at a press conference.
“We are continually trying to finish the trade deal with India. I would characterize it as we say in the US. We’re in the, we’re in the short strokes, so I think we’re toward the end of it,” he said.
Greer’s comments offered one of the clearest assessments yet from the US side on the state of negotiations between New Delhi and Washington.
But the US trade representative cautioned against expectations of an immediate announcement.
“At the same time, there’s no, you know, I don’t think there’s something imminent, but we truly have identified the universe of items that are sticking points,” Greer said.
“We’re working diligently toward them,” he added.
Greer was responding to a question about his bilateral meeting with Goyal and whether President Donald Trump’s conversation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi a day earlier had provided fresh direction to the negotiations.
He described the Trump-PM Modi conversation as “a very constructive call”.
Greer also indicated that the two leaders could speak again soon as negotiators work through the remaining issues.
“My sense is that the president and prime minister may have another call very soon on this just to assess progress and where we are,” he said.
Greer did not identify the remaining sticking points during his response. Nor did he provide a timeline for completing the agreement.
His comments came as Goyal held a series of bilateral meetings with his counterparts on the sidelines of the G20 trade ministerial in Milwaukee.
The India negotiations formed part of a broader series of trade talks being conducted by the Trump administration with major US trading partners.
Greer said during the press conference that the United States had signed 10 agreements on reciprocal trade and nine joint statements with trading partners, while negotiations continued with others.
He said the Trump administration had secured trade deals covering more than 40 per cent of US goods trade.
Greer also defended the administration’s wider tariff policy, saying US trade measures were aimed at supporting American production and supply chains rather than targeting individual countries.
“When we impose tariffs and trade measures, these are not, these are not anti-any country. Our trade policy is pro-American,” he said.
“We’re trying to support our supply chains in the US. We’re not trying to create excess production. We’re not trying to corner global markets on a certain good or commodity,” Greer said.
The Milwaukee ministerial brought together trade officials from the world’s major advanced and emerging economies under the US G20 presidency. Discussions included structural excess production, forced labour in global supply chains, the most-favoured-nation principle and the weaponisation of food through coercive trade actions.
India and the United States have been engaged in negotiations aimed at resolving outstanding trade issues and reaching a bilateral agreement. The latest round of high-level engagement in Milwaukee has put those negotiations back at the centre of the bilateral economic relationship.
–IANS
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