Trump optimistic about deal with India

Ahead of his India visit, US President Donald Trump expressed optimism about striking substantial deals with India. Over the past few months, there have been talks about India and the United States agreeing on a trade package as a precursor to a major trade deal. “Maybe we’ll slow down. We’ll do it after the election. I think that could happen too. So, we’ll see what happens,” he stated. He also maintained that US is focusing on deals keeping the motto ‘America First’ in mind.

Currently, bilateral India-US trade in goods and services is about 3% of that of US’ world trade. Recently, the Congressional Research Service (CRS) said the bilateral relationship is more consequential for India; in 2018 the United States was its second largest goods export market (16.0% share) after the European Union (EU, 17.8%), and third largest goods import supplier (6.3%) after China (14.6%) and the EU 28 (10.2%). India is at present the United States’ eighth-largest trading partner in goods and services.