India-US trade deal: Rubio says pact is ‘incredibly close’, ‘matter of weeks, not months’

The United States and India are close to finalising a trade agreement, with only a few technical details left to resolve, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday.

“We’re about as close as you can be without having an executed agreement,” Rubio said at a press conference after meeting External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in Mumbai.

“I think there’s a small number of items left to wrap up. So I think that will happen shortly – we’re hoping, which it should — and hopefully have some good news to announce fairly soon.” he said. “And perhaps the leaders can sign it thereafter.”

In an interview with News18, Rubio said the agreement was expected within weeks rather than months, but stressed that both sides needed to settle every detail before announcing it.

“It’s incredibly close. I think we’re down to some technical details that have to be worked out. Technical details matter because there has to be agreement. Both sides have to agree that the language means the same thing. So it’s down to that level,” Rubio said.

Rubio said he was not directly negotiating the pact, which is being handled by the US Trade Representative, but had been closely involved in following the discussions.

“But I know – and have been very involved in watching it happen – that it is something we anticipate seeing in a matter of weeks, not months,” he added.

The two countries announced in February the finalisation of a framework for the first phase of a bilateral trade agreement. Subsequent changes in the US tariff regime led to further negotiations.

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said last month that the trade pact was “done and dusted”, but its execution was awaiting a competitive advantage for Indian exporters over rivals in other countries.

“We have to find the right comparable competitive advantage over our competitors, so that we can quickly execute the agreement,” Goyal said ahead of his visit to the United States.

India competes with countries including Bangladesh, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia and Sri Lanka in several US markets.

Preferential tariffs for Indian goods compared with those of these competitors would improve the price competitiveness of Indian exporters.

Energy, defence cooperation

Following his meeting with Rubio, Jaishankar said on social media that the two had “shared views on further advancement of our ties, focusing on trade, energy, technology, defence and people-to-people ties”.

The US State Department said the two diplomats also discussed regional and global issues, including developments in West Asia.

“The secretary reiterated that increased energy trade with the United States can play a transformative role in diversifying India’s supply chains while meeting its sizable consumer demand,” the department said.

Rubio also commended progress in bilateral defence and civil nuclear cooperation and advocated increased purchases of US technologies and systems, it added.

US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor described the discussions as productive, saying the two sides were working to deepen cooperation in defence, energy, emerging technologies and trade.

Rubio also addressed questions about India’s purchases of Russian oil and its efforts to reduce dependence on Russian energy supplies, saying New Delhi’s push to diversify its energy sources was a sensible approach.

“I think they’ve made substantial progress in that regard, and we’re happy to see that. But in the end, it’s not just about Russian oil; it’s about their desire to diversify, and obviously we think we can be a source of some of their energy inputs.”

“Obviously, we’ve discussed Venezuela and other countries, and I think it’s in our interest to have a strong ally with a diverse energy portfolio,” he said.

Rubio said India had significant oil-refining capabilities and that some Indian companies already held oil concessions in Venezuela.

“I’m not claiming to you that Venezuela alone can fill the hole that could be caused by some of the things that are happening around the world, but I think over time, it most certainly can,” he said.

Rubio visited Reliance Industries’ refinery in Jamnagar on Wednesday, saying energy was closely linked to national security and economic stability.

“Countries fight wars over energy, economies collapse over lack of energy,” he said.

Before his talks with Jaishankar, Rubio visited the Taj memorial in Mumbai and laid a wreath in honour of victims of the November 2008 attacks, which killed 166 people, including six American citizens.

Tariffs and competitiveness

Rubio said the purpose of a trade agreement was to secure better terms than those currently available, while ensuring that the arrangement remained beneficial to both countries over the long term.

“For a trade deal with India, or any country for that matter, to be sustainable in the long term, it has to be an agreement that is good for both sides,” he said.

He said differences were inevitable because countries would defend their respective national interests, but close relations could help bridge those differences.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman recently said the negotiations were continuing, while acknowledging that both sides might have reached a stage where further concessions would be difficult.

“The agreement negotiations are still ongoing, although we’d like to believe that both the sides have reached a plateau beyond which giving or taking might be very, very difficult,” she said at the Munich Leaders Meeting.

“But maybe if there are rooms to operate from, both sides would do it,” she added.

The United States is India’s largest export destination and second-largest trading partner. India’s goods exports to the United States were valued at about $87.3 billion in 2025, while bilateral goods trade stood at nearly $141 billion.