‘Bulk of issues’ sorted regarding India-US trade deal, says S Jaishankar

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday said that the “bulk of the issues” regarding a trade agreement between India and the United States have been “sorted out” and that the “last stretch of concerns remain at the American end”, not New Delhi.

Jaishankar was speaking at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit.

“In many cases, the concerns are not so much on our side, because the changes have been more on the American side than ours,” said the minister.

After an interim trade deal was agreed upon on February 2, US tariffs on Indian goods would have been reduced to 18% from a combined rate of 50%. The earlier rate of 50% had included a punitive levy of 25% imposed in August 2025 over India’s purchase of Russian oil.

However, negotiations on the final deal were hampered after the US Supreme Court on February 20 struck down global tariffs imposed by Trump, ruling that he had exceeded his authority.

In response, Trump imposed a temporary 10% tariff on goods imported into the US, citing his authority under the 1974 Trade Act. This has left the status of US’ trade deals with countries, including India, unclear.

On Saturday, Jaishankar said that everyone becomes “impatient” during the final stages of any negotiation.

“People want to know what the specific issues are and how long it will take,” he said. “Negotiators do not usually disclose such details during a negotiation.”

During his India visit on October 20, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had said that Washington and India are “very, very close” to signing a trade agreement.

“I would say we are about as close as you can be without having an executed agreement,” he had said.

This had come days after Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on October 5 that the trade talks between India and the US had reached a “plateau” and further concessions might be difficult.

Edited by Sneha.

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