US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday expressed optimism that the US and India are close to finalizing a long-awaited trade deal, during a visit to New Delhi.
"We've made tremendous progress," Rubio said following talks with Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.
"I think we're going to wind up with a trade agreement between the US and India that is going to be enduring and is going to be beneficial to both sides and sustainable in a way that addresses national interests that we have."
Rubio did not give a specific timeframe for negotiations to be concluded, but said a US delegation would travel to India shortly.
India is an important strategic partner for the United States, but the relationship was severely strained when US President Donald Trump decided to impose sweeping tariffs last year over India's continued purchase of Russian oil.
Trump rolled back the tariffs in February, paving the way for an improvement of ties.
At the time, both sides released a framework for a preliminary trade agreement that calls for reducing additional US import tariffs on Indian goods from 25% to 18%.
At one point, the US had imposed tariffs of 50% on imports from India, including the 25% levy imposed due to trade deals between the world’s most populous country and Russia.
Rubio defended Trump's tariff policy on Sunday, saying the president had not aimed to complicate relations with India.
"The president did not say: 'Let's figure out a way to create friction with India over trade'," Rubio said, adding that trade issues were always on the agenda in any country he visited.
On Tuesday in New Delhi, Rubio will join his counterparts from India, Australia and Japan at a meeting of the foreign ministers of the so-called Quad group.
The meeting will focus on strengthening cooperation among the four countries.
The group aims to guarantee a free and open Indo-Pacific, which generally refers to a region stretching from the Indian to the North Pacific Ocean, encompassing most of Asia and extending to the US West Coast.
