US Ambassador Sergio Gor says the India-US trade deal is 99% complete and will be signed in a few weeks. Today’s news
The United States and India are within a single percentage point of striking an interim trade deal, US Ambassador Sergio Gore said on Friday, putting the two nations on the brink of a deal that Washington says will cement the most important bilateral relationship of the 21st century.
India-US trade deal: Only one percent to go
Speaking at the Indian Institute of Technology in New Delhi at an event on the US-India TRUST initiative, Transforming the Relationship through Strategic Technologies, Gor confirmed that an Indian delegation had traveled to Washington last week to resolve remaining outstanding points and that a US team would soon arrive in New Delhi to conclude discussions.
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“Our current interim trade agreement is on the table to finalize and this will unlock prosperity for both our countries. Just last week, India sent a team to Washington DC to finalize the last one percent of this trade agreement,” he said.
“We will welcome a US delegation here next week to continue these talks. We fully expect a trade agreement to be signed in the next few weeks and months,” he added.
The groundwork for the interim arrangement was laid in February, when New Delhi and Washington issued a joint statement agreeing on a framework for mutual and mutually beneficial trade.
Bilateral trade has increased tenfold in two decades
Gor framed the looming deal as part of a broader arc of economic expansion, noting that trade in goods and services between the two countries has climbed from $20 billion to more than $220 billion over the past two decades.
“Today, the US is one of India’s largest trading partners, and India is among the US’s leading trading partners. Importantly, this growth is increasingly driven by innovation, investment and high-value sectors, from digital commerce and advanced manufacturing to energy and emerging technologies,” he said.
He also identified trade pressure as central to the Trump administration’s domestic economic agenda.
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“Our investment in trade expansion offers transformative potential. President Trump’s goal is to facilitate bilateral trade in a way that creates unprecedented opportunities for American businesses and workers,” he said.
“India’s growing economy and significant infrastructure needs are aligned with America’s expertise in energy, aerospace, research and development, advanced manufacturing and digital infrastructure,” he added.
The TRUST Initiative: Technology as the cornerstone of the Indo-US alliance
Launched when President Donald Trump met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the start of his second term in office, the TRUST framework is designed to anchor bilateral engagement in strategic technologies reshaping geopolitics. The Trump administration has formally designated India as one of several “new centers of power” in the reorganized global order, and the initiative reflects that assessment.
Gore was unequivocal about the importance the two governments place on the partnership.
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“We have come together at a defining moment when critical and emerging technologies are fundamentally reshaping the global balance of power. And I believe no partnership is better positioned to lead that charge than ours,” he said.
“Along with this immense transformation, I want us to be ambitious and shape the US-India relationship into the defining strategic partnership of the 21st century — one that brings tangible benefits to both our nations and our people,” he said.
The Critical Minerals Framework: Strategically Countering China’s Rare Earth Controls
Among the highlights announced at the event was the formalization of a framework for bilateral cooperation in critical minerals, a sector that has gained strategic urgency following China’s tightening of rare earth element export controls. Gor described the mineral partnership as key to building defense and energy supply chains that are resilient and secure.
“The message we want to send to everyone here and across the country is that the US is paying attention. The US is engaged and the US is coming to India with open arms,” he said.
Indo-US Artificial Intelligence Partnership and the Pax Silica Framework
On artificial intelligence, Gor pointed to the bilateral joint statement as evidence of convergent regulatory and innovation strategies, with both governments working to promote private-sector-led technological development.
“Our joint statement on the US-India Partnership in Artificial Intelligence affirmed our shared vision for our innovation ecosystems,” he said.
“We agreed to adapt regulatory regimes that drive technological innovation and encourage investment, deepen cooperation within Pax Silica to support the supply chains of tomorrow, and foster an environment where the AI revolution is driven by the creative power of the private sector,” he added.
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Gor described India as an increasingly integral part of the global technology ecosystem.
“India is joining a network of trusted ecosystems and resilient supply chains that will define the future – from artificial intelligence to semiconductors and quantum computing,” he said.
India supplies 40 percent of US generic drugs
One of the most striking messages in this address concerned the pharmaceutical sector. Gor revealed that the United States sources nearly 40 percent of its generic drugs from India, a number that underscores both the depth of the existing economic interdependence and the strategic trust that underpins the relationship.
“When it comes to pharmaceuticals, we import almost 40 percent of our generics from India. There’s a reason why the United States does this: it’s because we trust India. These are critical life-saving ingredients that are needed in the United States,” he said.
Washington is recalibrating export controls for the new geopolitical landscape
Gore also addressed the United States’ ongoing review of its export control policies, noting that Washington is actively reevaluating its approach to balancing legitimate national security interests with the imperative to enable trade and innovation with trusted partners such as India.
“We couldn’t be luckier to have a partner like India”
US Assistant Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy Sarah Rogers, who also addressed the gathering at IIT Delhi, expressed unequivocal support for the bilateral relationship.
“I don’t think we could be more fortunate than we are to have a partner like India in a critical region,” she said.
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Gor urged both nations to maintain and increase the momentum of recent years.
“I believe you will all agree with me that there are no two nations better placed than us to join forces and place our people at the center of technological transformation,” he said.
“Let’s work together to make the US-India partnership the defining relationship of the 21st century,” he added.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s recent four-day visit to India, which Gor described as “very important,” provided further diplomatic impetus to a relationship that the two capitals now position as a pillar of their foreign and economic policies.
