India-US Trade Deal In Final Stage, Remaining Concerns Mostly On American Side: Jaishankar

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said India and the United States are in the final stage of negotiations for a bilateral trade agreement, with most major issues already resolved. He indicated that the remaining concerns largely stem from changes on the American side, while stressing that New Delhi wants a deal that is balanced, mutually beneficial and gives India a competitive advantage.

Speaking at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit 2026 on Saturday, Jaishankar said the two countries were hopeful of concluding the negotiations soon, although he declined to provide a specific timeline.

“It’s certainly our hope and our…anticipation that we are at the last stretch [of the talks for the trade deal]. That’s not a secret,” he said.

He added that the “bulk of the issues” had been sorted out and that the remaining concerns were, in many cases, linked to developments on the US side.

“The hope is that we should close it out soon. It’s always the case that in that last period, everybody’s impatient,” he said.

Jaishankar underlined that India's priority was to secure an agreement that would be beneficial and balanced, while offering the country an advantage over comparable economies.

India-US Trade Talks Near Conclusion

Explaining the challenges involved in the negotiations, Jaishankar said the agreement could not be finalised quickly because it involved serious economic considerations, including people's jobs and livelihoods.

He said India was examining the negotiations tariff line by tariff line, describing the process as detailed and time-consuming.

The two countries have been negotiating a bilateral trade agreement since last year, after the Trump administration imposed 50 per cent tariffs on Indian exports. Talks gathered momentum after both sides reached an understanding earlier this year on reducing tariffs to 18 per cent.

However, the negotiations were complicated after the US judiciary struck down Trump's tariffs. Officials from both countries have since indicated that discussions are in their final stage.

US Political Changes May Affect Bilateral Ties

Asked about the impact of the Democrats taking control of both chambers of the US Congress, Jaishankar said the political shift would inevitably bring changes.

However, he noted that several important areas of India-US cooperation, including defence, security and technology, enjoyed bipartisan support in Washington.

“Would it change our relationship? I would say on many issues which we are working on, there is…a consensus,” he said, adding that these were not partisan issues in the US.

On Washington's changing approach towards China, Jaishankar said India was accustomed to factoring political developments into its assessment of international relations.

India Has Improved Border Infrastructure Along China Front: Jaishankar

In the discussion, Jaishankar also discussed India's infrastructure projects along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China.

Still, he said, New Delhi had been making substantial efforts on the border since the June 2020 Galwan Valley standoff in which 20 Indian soldiers were killed and at least four Chinese troops.

While increasing resource allocation and deployment of military forces, Jaishankar said India had accelerated road, bridge, tunnel construction and increased the funding of airfields.

“What has happened today is the border with China has become more alive,” he said, referring to the sustained deployment of additional troops along the LAC.

He added that India's ability to maintain and deploy forces along the border had improved considerably since the 2020 military standoff.

India Needs To Leapfrog To Catch Up With China

Jaishankar also discussed the economic gap between India and China, noting that the two economies were of a similar size in the late 1980s before Beijing moved ahead through rapid modernisation and industrialisation.

He said India had missed important opportunities during that period and that economic reforms introduced in the 1990s were not followed through across sectors to build stronger domestic capabilities.

Citing mobile phone manufacturing and semiconductors, he questioned why India had not developed these industries earlier despite having the beginnings of semiconductor manufacturing facilities in the 1990s.

“You can’t play catch up by following the same track. You have to do leap-frogging,” he said.

On artificial intelligence, Jaishankar acknowledged that India's gap with China was more complex than simply having access to semiconductors, energy and computing power.

However, he said India had made significant progress in adopting digital technologies and practices over the past decade, adding that the country had advanced rapidly in several areas of digital adoption.