India-US trade deal to be finalized in ‘next few months’? Trump’s “priority” at the G20 and a hint from US envoy Sergio Gore | Today’s news
US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor said Prime Minister Narendra Modi will top President Donald Trump’s list of leaders to meet at the G20 summit.
The US will host the 2026 G20 in Miami, Florida at the Trump National Doral Miami Resort from December 14-15, 2026.
When asked about Prime Minister Modi’s visit to the US for the G20 meeting, Gor told India Today in an exclusive interview that “this visit will be more than just a group meeting”.
“As for the G20, I don’t have any specific announcements for you, but I will say because the president considers the prime minister a friend, I expect that the visit will be more than just a group meeting,” Gor said.
He added: “…if you had to ask the president – hey, you’ve got 35 people coming, who do you want to see? The prime minister would be at the top of that list.”
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On the key bilateral moments or sideshows expected at the G20 in December, Gor said: “Minister (Piyush) Goyal is one of my favourites, but so is Dr Jaishankar…As long as my friend PM Modi is there, India will be able to rely on the United States.”
Sergio Gor also hinted at the possibility of Trump returning to India next year, saying the president continues to remember his visit in 2020 “fondly.”
“Every time I talk to him, he remembers very fondly the incredible visit he had here, the incredible people he met and of course his dear friend, the Prime Minister,” he said.
“Stay tuned, that’s all I can say…next year we’ll be here before you know it,” Gor added.
India-US trade deal ‘moving forward’
On the proposed trade deal between India and the US, Gor said negotiations are being reworked following the US Supreme Court decision, but indicated that the two sides are close to reaching an agreement.
“The trade deal is moving forward … We announced the trade deal. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court struck down one of the laws in the United States, so we had to go back and rewrite a lot of it, and that’s how it’s being rebuilt,” Gor said.
Gor said he hoped the deal would be finalized within the next few months, stressing that negotiations of this magnitude often take time.
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He said: “I am fully confident that we will get a trade deal across the finish line and so in the next few weeks and a few months we hope to be able to finalize that trade deal.”
The US envoy added that the trade agreement is beneficial for both sides. “Both sides are aware of that and that’s something we’ll be able to move on in the very near future,” Gor said.
Earlier, in February of this year, the US Supreme Court struck down reciprocal tariffs that the Donald Trump administration had imposed on its trading partners.
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The court upheld a lower court’s ruling that the Republican president had used the 1977 law beyond his authority. The conservative-majority Supreme Court ruled in a six-three ruling that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act “does not authorize the president to impose tariffs.”
A few hours later, US President Donald Trump signed a 10% global tariff on all countries. The 10% Universal Global Tariff was enacted under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 following a Supreme Court decision that overturned its previous Emergency Powers (IEEPA) obligations.
In May, in a 2-1 decision, a three-judge panel of the Court of International Trade in New York ruled that the 10% tariffs were illegal, according to the Associated Press.
