External Affairs Minister’s Jaishankar and US State Secretary Marco Rubio agreed to the initial conclusion of the proposed Indo-American bilateral trade deal on Monday.
A few days after US President Donald Trump announced a mutual tariff for about 50 countries including India, the issue was prominently discovered during a phone conversation between Jaishankar and Rubio.
This was the first high-level contact between the two sides after Trump announced the tariff on 2 April.
In a post on X on phone conversations, Jaishankar said that it agreed to the importance of the initial conclusion of bilateral trade agreement between India and the US.
The Minister of External Affairs (EAM) also said that he and Rubio exchanged attitude on Indo-Pacific, Indian subcontinent, Europe, Middle East and Caribbean.
“Today is good to talk with @Secrubio. Indo-Pacific, the Indian subcontinent, exchanged the approach to Europe, Middle East/West Asia and Caribbean,” he said.
“Agreed on the importance of the initial conclusion of bilateral trade agreement. Looking forward to stay in touch,” Jayashankar said.
Good to speak with @Secrubio Today.
Indo-Pacific, exchanged the approach to Indian sub-continent, Europe, Middle East/West Asia and Caribbean.
Agreed on the importance of the initial conclusion of bilateral trade agreement.
Ready to stay in contact. ,
– Dr. S. Jaishankar (@drsjaishankar) 7 April, 2025
India and America are currently negotiating on a bilateral trade deal.
After a conversation between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Trump at Washington DC in February, both sides announced to negotiate the first installment of the bilateral trade agreement by 2025.
Last month, American Assistant Trade Representative Brendon Lynch visited India and interacted with his Indian negotiators on strengthening the bilateral trade agreement.
According to his “US First” policy, Trump announced a mutual tariff on his partners and other countries that implement high levy on imports from the US.
Saying that New Delhi implements high imports on American goods, the US has announced 26 percent mutual tariff on India as the Trump administration aims to reduce the country’s trade deficit and promote manufacturing.
26 percent of the duties are above and above the current duty being faced by Indian goods in the US.
(Except for the headline, the story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is published by a syndicated feed.)
