Mumbai: Suggesting that the India-United States trade deal was 99 per cent complete, US Ambassador Sergio Gor said Wednesday both sides were trying to resolve the remaining 1 per cent sticking points and expected the long-awaited pact to be inked within the next several weeks.
The US Ambassador to India, who also serves as Special Envoy to South and Central Asia, said America has lower tariffs for India than any of its neighbours and insisted Washington values its relationship with New Delhi.
Speaking at Citi’s 2026 India Conference in Mumbai, the Ambassador noted that when US President Donald Trump was not in office from January 2021 to January 2025 after his first term, Prime Minister Narendra Modi still stayed in touch with him during those four years, highlighting their deep personal bond.
Your prime minister normally never criticises the president. He (PM Modi) has stayed in touch during those four years when the president (Trump) was out (of office). And that’s something that the president remembers, Gor told the gathering.
Further highlighting the friendship between the two leaders, he said, It is easy to see today (that) some leaders, some leaders from Europe that show up to the Oval Office … every one of them wants to be the president’s best friend. But it matters when you are down on who your true friend is. That’s what the president appreciates about Prime Minister Modi.
The 39-year-old Ambassador said a US team is currently in India to negotiate the bilateral trade pact.
Top negotiators from India and the US Tuesday began a three-day round of talks in New Delhi to finalise the details of the proposed interim trade agreement. The framework for the pact was finalised in February. The US team is led by its chief negotiator Brendan Lynch, while India’s chief negotiator is Darpan Jain, an additional secretary in the Department of Commerce.
And so that is something that this relationship is valued, that the (US) trade team that is right now negotiating on that. Once that trade deal is finalised…the interim trade deal was there in place. It is that 1 per cent that we are trying to get across the finish line. So the leaders can have a signing and put that in stone and in law, Gor said at the conference.
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The youngest US Ambassador to India emphasised the trade deal is very close to being finalised.
And so we are very hopeful that that will get accomplished over the next weeks, several weeks, but it’s not going to be years. We are very close to getting that done, the US envoy said.
Asked further about the deal and the 1 per cent sticking points, Gor insisted there are a few items that are under discussion.
Each side has to give you something, right? Because if that’s what identify you win-win situations. And so I will say, to India’s credit, you have incredible negotiators. And one of the reasons (why) this deal is tough is because for many years, India held the line on so many items that the United States was not able to get in here. That’s why it took 19 years for the European Union to crack that trade deal (with India). So we are optimistic, he said.
Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal Monday said India and the US have finalised most elements of the first phase of the bilateral trade agreement, and negotiations are now focused on a few minor issues, commas and full stops.
Gor also responded to questions tied to the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) launching two separate Section 301 investigations on March 11 and 12, 2026, covering 60 economies over concerns related to forced labour and excess industrial capacity.
The USTR June 2 issued its findings in the forced labour investigation and proposed additional tariffs on imports from 60 economies.
Gor noted the tariffs imposed by the US were applied globally and were not targeted specifically at India.
These were tariffs that were applied to everybody, from the European Union to Canada to Mexico, to almost every other country in Asia, including Japan, South Korea (both close US allies), he maintained.
