The Trump administration is nearly ready to close a new trade deal with India, and the deal could be announced in a few days.
On Tuesday, President Donald Trump told reporters outside the White House that negotiations were moving quickly, and he believes both countries will sign a deal soon. “I think we will have a deal with India,” Trump said. “The Prime Minister, as you know, was here three weeks ago, and they want to make a deal.”
Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India, visited Washington in late February. Since then, both countries have been pushing to close the talks. According to CNBC, the White House sees this trade deal as one of several negotiations happening globally at the moment, but the deal with India seems to be the closest to being finished.
Bessent and Vance say the deal with India is nearly ready
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confirmed during a press conference at the White House that the U.S. is “very close to India.” He said the administration has also been having conversations with Japan and suggested that the U.S. is also close to a possible deal with South Korea. “The outlines of a deal” with Seoul are taking shape, he said, without sharing specific terms or a timeline.
But India seems to be the focus. Bessent noted a recent meeting between Vice President JD Vance and Modi, saying that the two leaders “made very good progress.” He said that the discussions went well enough that an announcement about India could occur soon.
“A country like India, which has the published tariffs ready, is much easier to negotiate with,” Bessent said. The structure of India's existing tariffs is one of the things that makes this easier. They are already written, not hidden or vague.
That helps U.S. negotiators know exactly what they are dealing with. That is not the case with all countries, Bessent added, and that is why talks with India have progressed faster than with others.
The potential benefits are not one-sided. Raghuram Rajan, an economist from the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago, told CNBC that India could gain a lot if it can reduce those tariffs. “India benefits enormously if it can negotiate tariffs to a much lower level, even while some other countries have them at a higher level,” Rajan said. He explained that this could make India more attractive to companies, especially due to its huge domestic market.
Lutnick hints that another trade deal is done
While all eyes are on India, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick added fuel to the fire shortly after by stating that a deal was already made, but was not yet public.
Speaking with Brian Sullivan from CNBC, Howard said: “I have a deal done, done, done, done, but I need to wait for their Prime Minister and their parliament to give their approval, which I hope will be soon.” He refused to name the country, but the markets responded anyway.
Just after Howard's comments, the stock market soared. Traders saw the statement as a sign that real progress was being made. The details of the unnamed deal are still under wraps, and Howard did not confirm whether India was the country involved.
When asked if he was involved in talks with China, Howard quickly said no. “My portfolio is the trade deals of the rest of the world,” he said. China is being handled separately by Bessent.
As for who else is being courted, Bessent told reporters that the White House has active talks with 17 different countries. “We have 18 important trade relationships; we will be talking to all those partners, or at least 17 of them, in the coming weeks,” he said.
According to him, many of those countries have already come to Washington. China is not one of them. So far, the administration has not signed anything official. Bessent said many countries have reached out about deals, but nothing has been announced. At this time, India, Japan, and South Korea are the main prospects.
Later in the day, Bessent appeared on Fox Business and was directly asked about Lutnick's claim of a finished deal. He neither confirmed nor denied. “I’m not going to get ahead of the president,” Bessent said. “Nothing is done until President Trump announces it. So we should wait to hear from President Trump in the coming days.”