NEW DELHI, October 22 (Aalimi Nation) – US President Donald Trump has said a trade agreement with India is "pretty close", as Secretary of State Marco Rubio completed a brief visit to the country that focused on trade and energy.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday, Trump said both sides wanted an agreement. "They want to make a deal. We're going to make a deal. Pretty close, yeah," he said, adding that it would be "a much different kind of deal than we've done". He did not explain how the agreement would differ from earlier US trade pacts, and gave no tariff rates, terms or signing date.
Rubio held talks with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in Mumbai on October 20. The two sides discussed the importance of an early conclusion of a bilateral trade agreement, the Ministry of External Affairs said. Rubio told reporters that only a small number of issues remained and that the two countries were about as close to a deal as possible without a signed agreement.
Earlier this month, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal met US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer in Milwaukee and Washington to discuss the finer details of the proposed pact. Trade talks had been affected for months by differences over American tariffs and India's purchases of Russian oil.
The Mumbai talks also covered energy, technology, defence and people-to-people ties, according to the US side. No defence outcome has been announced.
Rubio urged India to buy more American energy and defence equipment. He called India a crude-refining "superpower" and encouraged it to process more Venezuelan crude, indicating that Washington would like more of it refined at Reliance Industries' complex in Jamnagar, Gujarat.
On Wednesday, Rubio travelled to Jamnagar, where he toured the Reliance refinery, the Vantara wildlife rescue and conservation centre and the company's clean-energy manufacturing hub, accompanied by his wife. The complex is described as the world's largest single-site refining facility and can process about 1.4 million barrels of crude a day. He spent a few hours there before leaving for the United States.
Members of the Ambani family, led by chairman Mukesh Ambani, received the delegation. Officials described the Jamnagar stop as a private visit, and neither side released a detailed itinerary. US Ambassador Sergio Gor said Reliance's planned investment in what would be the first new US oil refinery in 50 years would create jobs and expand American energy production.
The trip did not include a stop in New Delhi. Rubio last visited the capital in May, when he met Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The visit comes as the Trump administration faces pressure over diesel prices ahead of US midterm elections, and as it has held off on implementing a proposed sanctions law aimed at buyers of Russian oil, which observers say gives both governments room to negotiate on energy.
Neither government has announced a date for signing the trade agreement. Indian officials have not yet publicly commented on Trump's latest remarks.
