'India-US trade deal nearing finish line': Jaishankar says agreement could be sealed soon

India and the US have sorted out the bulk of the issues relating to the proposed trade deal and it could be sealed soon as negotiations are underway to resolve the last stretch of concerns External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on SaturdayHis remarks come a month before Prime Minister Narendra Modis likely visit to the US for the G20 Summit on the sidelines of which he and President Donald Trump may meet to review the broader trajectory of bilateral ties and progress on the trade pactIn an interactive session at the HT Leadership Summit the external affairs minister said the negotiations are approaching the finishing line adding that many of the remaining issues are not so much at our end and that more changes have occurred on the American sideWell its certainly our hope and in many ways anticipation that we are in the last stretch Thats not a secret he said responding to a question on the negotiations for the trade pactThere has been speculation that India and the US may announce the trade deal following talks between Modi and Trump on the sidelines of the G20 Summit to be held in Miami on December 14 and 15Jaishankar said his understanding has been that the bulk of the issues were sorted out There is the last stretch of issues and in many cases these concerns are not so much at our end because the changes have been more at the American end than our endThe hope is that we should close it out soon Its always the case that in that last period everybodys impatient he notedLast month US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in Mumbai that both sides are very close to firming up the trade dealIndia and the US have been engaged in talks since early 2025 on the proposed trade pact to address tariff friction eliminate nontariff barriers and boost bilateral market access India is seeking better tariffs than its competitors for its goods in the US marketFor us the key is that we want a trade deal which is beneficial is balanced and which would give us a comparative advantage over groups of comparable economies Jaishankar saidThat is really what we are looking for and that is really our expectation of where we would be when the trade deal is done he saidThe external affairs minister also called for looking at the proposed trade pact from a larger perspective of both countriesIn our case many of our early trade deals were done with Asian economies and many of those Asian economies were actually competitive economies The gains which people expected from those FTAs free trade agreements did not exactly materialise he saidToday think if you look at the FTAs which have been done in the last few years I think theyve been much more thought through Theyve been much more strategically and economically assessed he saidJaishankar said the US is Indias biggest market and having a trade deal with it would benefit the countryWhen you look at this big context and say there is the US our biggest market in a way the worlds largest economy obviously having a trade deal with such an economy would benefit usFor the US President Trump is obviously looking to do a whole set of bilateral deals to improve markets for himself Now the challenge is to find a landing point he saidI think this is not something which could have been done quickly and magically with sort of bold thinking and rapid movement because these are very serious issues peoples jobs and peoples lives are at stakeThe external affairs minister also suggested that issues relating to tariffs were sorted outIf you are serious you go tariff line by tariff line That takes time Now weve done it the painstaking way Not everybody has had the patience or frankly the understanding to bear with itBut I think having put in that effort we have now reached almost the finishing line I think bear with it and hopefully well get it he saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever