India, US Agree To Resolve Trade And Tariff Rows

India and the US have greed to start talks to clinch an early trade deal and resolve their standoff over traiffs as New Delhi promised to buy more US oil, gas and military equipment and fight illegal immigration.

The series of agreements emerged after talks between US President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the White House, just hours after Trump railed against the climate for US businesses in India and unveiled a roadmap for reciprocal tariffs on countries that put duties on US imports.

“Prime Minister Modi recently announced the reductions to India’s unfair, very strong tariffs that limit us access to the Indian market, very strongly,” Trump said. “And really it’s a big problem I must say.”

The deal to resolve trade concerns could be done within the next seven months, said India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri.

A joint statement after the meeting said Washington welcomed New Delhi’s recent steps to lower tariffs on select US products and increase market access to US farm products, while seeking to negotiate the initial segments of a trade deal by the fall of 2025.

While both leaders “had their perspectives” on tariffs, “what is more remarkable is the fact that we have a way forward on this issue,” Misri said.

Some of the leaders’ agreements are aspirational: India wants to increase by “billions of dollars” its purchases of US defense equipment and may make Washington the “number one supplier” of oil and gas, Trump said at a joint press conference with Modi.

And Delhi wants to double trade with Washington by 2030, Modi said. Long-planned cooperation on nuclear energy, also discussed by the leaders, faces ongoing legal challenges.

“We’re also paving the way to ultimately provide India with the F-35 stealth fighters,” said Trump.

Misri, the Indian official, later said the F-35 deal was a proposal at this point, with no formal process underway.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment on any deal.

REUTERS/Christopher Ojilere