Jaishankar says India-US trade deal heading towards ‘landing point’, declines to predict timeline

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said the India-US trade agreement was moving in the right direction, but declined to predict when it would be finalised, saying some issues remained to be resolved.

Speaking at a Bloomberg event, Jaishankar said Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and the US Trade Representative were working through the outstanding issues.

“My sense is that this is an issue that is heading towards a landing point,” Jaishankar said, adding that he was encouraged by the progress.

Asked whether the agreement would be concluded before December, Jaishankar said he would not make public predictions.

“I know one thing in this era — don’t make public predictions,” he said. “I can only tell you it’s heading in the right direction. We’re very encouraged by it.”

Jaishankar said negotiations with the US involved not only the terms agreed between the two countries but also how each country’s deal compared with those secured by competing economies.

“That part of it isn’t entirely clear because not everybody has worked out their deals,” he said, explaining why some aspects of the negotiations remained uncertain.

Jaishankar declined to disclose details of the discussions, saying he would not be comfortable “spilling the beans in public”. He also pointed to Goyal’s public comments, saying the commerce minister had indicated that the negotiations were close to completion but that some issues still needed to be resolved.