United States President Donald Trump expressed confidence that Washington and New Delhi will soon finalise the trade agreement. He described Prime Minister
Narendra Modi as a "good friend". India and the US are all set to sign the much-awaited Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA). Speaking to the reporters at White House, Trump said on Thursday, "For years, India took advantage of the United States... They charged us tremendous tariffs and paid nothing... Now it is the exact reverse and we are making a lot of money with India. But we will get to a deal because I like your Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) a lot; he is a good friend of mine, and we get along well. We have a good relationship." Earlier this week, US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor revealed that negotiations for the trade agreement are "99 percent there," with both nations actively working on the "last one percent". Speaking to the media on the sidelines of CITI's 2026 India Conference in Mumbai, Ambassador Gor expressed immense optimism about the imminent finalisation of the deal. "We are 99% there, the last 1% we are working on. We are very optimistic that this will get done. It will be a win-win situation for both the US and India," Gor was quoted as saying by news agency ANI. Earlier on Monday, Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal, while talking about the details of the trade deal, had said the same thing, stating that "99 per cent of the deal is finalised". "All the major points have been settled. US Ambassador to India, Sergio Gor, recently stated that 99 per cent of the details have been finalised. I am fully confident that we will conclude the first tranche of the bilateral trade agreement with the US as soon as possible. We will sign it and then proceed to initiate further discussions on how to formulate an even more comprehensive bilateral trade agreement moving forward," Goyal was quoted as saying. Earlier this week, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) listed 54 economies including India -- which it claimed have failed to impose and effectively enforce a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labour. The list includes countries such as Australia, China, India, Israel, Japan, Qatar, and Russia. Other countries listed included Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka; Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkiye UAE, the United Kingdom.
