US "pretty close" to seal trade deal with India; will bring tariffs down at some point: Trump

New York/Washington | The US is "pretty close" to reaching a "fair trade deal" with India, President Donald Trump has said, adding that he will lower the tariffs imposed on Indian goods at "some point".

This is the second time in less than two weeks that the US president held out hope to seal the proposed bilateral trade deal with India.

It is not immediately clear whether it was Trump's usual hyperbole or there was some progress in the negotiations for the much-awaited deal between the two sides.

"We're making a deal with India, a much different deal than we had in the past. So right now, they don't love me, but they'll love us again," Trump said on Monday without elaborating.

He made the remarks during a ceremony in the Oval Office where Sergio Gor was sworn in as the US Ambassador to India by Vice President J D Vance.

"We're getting a fair deal, just a fair trade deal. We had pretty unfair trade deals. They're very good negotiators, Sergio, so you have to take a look at that, if you would please," Trump said.

"But we're getting close. Scott, I think we're pretty close to doing a deal that's good for everybody," Trump said to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who was present at the ceremony.

"That's right," Bessent responded to Trump.

"In the old days, do you think (former US President Joe) Biden would ask that question? I don't think so. 'How are we doing with India?' He didn't know about India. He didn't know a damn thing. That's okay,” Trump said.

Trump was asked about the trade deal with India and whether he is willing to consider lowering the current tariff rate imposed on India.

"Well, right now the tariffs are very high on India because of the Russian oil, and they've stopped doing the Russian oil. It's been reduced very substantially. Yeah, we're going to be bringing the tariffs down," Trump said.

"At some point, no, at some point, we're going to be bringing them down. Without tariffs, this country would be in such trouble as they were for many years." Relations between New Delhi and Washington have been reeling under severe stress after Trump imposed 50 per cent tariffs on India, including 25 per cent for New Delhi's procurement of Russian oil.

India had described the US action as "unfair, unjustified and unreasonable" while maintaining that its energy policy is guided by its own national interest.

Five rounds of talks have been completed so far for the first phase of the bilateral trade agreement between the US and India.

Last month, an official had said in New Delhi that the two countries are "very near" to concluding the proposed bilateral trade agreement, as both sides are converging on most of the issues.

The official had said that the two countries are sorting out the language of the agreement.

In his remarks, Trump said that Gor is going to have "great success" in New Delhi, as he described the bilateral relationship between India and the US as “very important.” Trump said India has the fastest-growing middle class and is an “important economic and strategic security partner in the Indo-Pacific region.

"It's an amazing country, actually, 1.5 billion people. China has 1.4 billion. Those are two big countries. As Ambassador, Sergio will work to fortify our country's bonds, promote investments in key US industries and technologies, increase American energy exports and expand our security cooperation," Trump said.