By Manoj Kumar
(Reuters) -India expects to secure a trade deal with the United States before the end of this year as most issues have been resolved, New Delhi’s trade secretary said on Friday.
The U.S. imposed tariffs of up to 50% on imports from India starting in late August even as negotiations between the two countries continued.
Earlier this month, U.S. President Donald Trump said that talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had been going well. Trump’s administration has pressured India to reduce oil purchases from Russia and to bring down tariffs including across sensitive sectors like agriculture.
“What needs to come first is the framework trade deal, which is able to address the reciprocal tariffs,” India’s trade secretary Rajesh Agrawal told industry leaders at an event of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
“I think all I can say that we are close, we have tried to iron out most of the issues,” said Agrawal, adding that any remaining issues can be addressed at a “political level”.
“We are very optimistic and very hopeful that we should find a solution within this calendar year,” he said.
India’s trade deficit widened to a record high of $41.68 billion in October, driven by higher imports of gold and a decline in exports to the U.S.
Agrawal said the deficit was not in “worrying zone”.
(Reporting by Manoj Kumar, writing by Shilpa Jamkhandikar, editing by Andrew Heavens, Aidan Lewis)
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