India-US trade deal heading towards landing point, says S Jaishankar

India and the United States are actively resolving their differences and moving towards a "landing point" on a proposed bilateral trade pact, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Tuesday evening.

Speaking at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum, Jaishankar explained that trade officials from both nations are steadily closing the gap on contentious issues, even as global economies re-examine their commercial links with Washington.

"I think we are waiting on a few things. I wouldn't be comfortable spilling the beans in public," Jaishankar said, adding that India’s Commerce and Industry Minister and the United States Trade Representative (USTR) are actively ironing out terms.

"My sense is that this is an issue which is heading towards a landing point," he said.

Advanced stage of bilateral negotiations

The ongoing trade talks began in early 2025 with the goal of eliminating tariff frictions, clearing non-tariff barriers, and expanding reciprocal market access. New Delhi has maintained a firm push to secure preferential market access and competitive tariff structures for Indian manufactured goods and exports entering the US.

Jaishankar noted that when dealing with Washington, nations must balance bilateral terms against how other competitor economies fare. With many international players still struggling to establish terms, India’s focused diplomatic engagement has placed it in a favourable position.

"The US is today determined to re-industrialise and to reset the terms of access to its economy," Jaishankar said. "Every significant economy is getting into a negotiation with the United States on this issue. We're not alone in this. In our case, we are pretty far advanced in that process of negotiation."

Earlier this month, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer confirmed that both sides had identified the outstanding issues and were actively working to settle them, though he cautioned that a final agreement was not immediate. Jaishankar’s remarks also follow recent observations by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman that talks had encountered a plateau, indicating that senior ministers are now guiding negotiations through their final stretch.

Strategic partnership on solid ground

Beyond trade tariffs, Jaishankar dismissed suggestions that changing economic postures in Washington threaten the broader bilateral relationship. While European and East Asian allies are facing substantial shifts in treaty commitments under Washington's altered posture, India's independent diplomatic standing shields it from such pressures.

"We have many issues we are working on with the United States, but we don't have an issue of the terms of alliance because we are not officially an ally," Jaishankar said. "We are a country which has a strong strategic partnership with the US, but a strategic partnership is a partnership; it's not an alliance."

He reaffirmed that the bedrock of India-US ties, developed steadily over two decades around shared strategic and security interests, remains uncompromised.

"In our case, for the last 20-odd years, we have worked out what we felt were convergences, overlaps, shared common interests with the US, and we had agreed that we would pursue that. I don't think that has fundamentally changed," Jaishankar said.

Although bilateral exchanges have navigated friction over tariffs, H-1B visa fees, and corporate green-card processing caps affecting major Indian information technology firms, New Delhi's measured approach continues to protect national economic interests while advancing high-level trade cooperation.