India a trusted partner, only 1% of trade deal talks left: Sergio Gor

“We fully expect that the trade deal will be signed over the next few weeks and months,” he said.

Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs, made similar remarks Friday. “We had a trade team which visited the United States in the month of April… and now we are expecting a team from the United States to visit India next week, where negotiations will be taken forward. So far, we have had a positive and constructive engagement,” Jaiswal said.

Earlier, the Commerce Ministry had said that a high-level US trade delegation was scheduled to visit India from June 1-4 to iron out the remaining clauses of the proposed bilateral agreement.

Gor’s optimistic tone came after Rubio sought to repair ties with India, calling it a “strategic alliance between two countries that have global influence and the ability to influence global events”. Rubio also said that the two sides were “on the verge” of winding up a trade agreement that would be “sustainable” and “beneficial to both”.

Gor said there was limitless potential to take forward the US-India relationship.”The importance of India is now… not only economically but strategically to the world.”

The US envoy said the TRUST (Transforming the Relationship Utilizing Strategic Technologies) initiative, launched during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Washington earlier this year, was helping deepen cooperation in critical and emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, semiconductors, quantum computing, biotechnology, energy and space.

Underlining the exponential trajectory of the economic relationship, Gor noted that bilateral trade in goods and services had skyrocketed from just USD 20 billion to over USD 220 billion in the past two decades.

He said the US is focusing on partnerships with countries it considers trusted collaborators in emerging technologies, noting that “India’s one of those partners”.

He also highlighted India’s inclusion in the Pax Silica initiative, a technology and supply-chain network led by the US.

“The reason India was in the first top 10 countries around the world to join this is that we trust this place. We trust the people here, we trust the technology, we trust your government,” the Ambassador said.

He said India is joining “a network of trusted ecosystems and resilient supply chains” covering technologies such as artificial intelligence, semiconductors and quantum computing.

On artificial intelligence, he said major American technology companies are increasing investments in India. He cited Amazon’s planned USD 35 billion investment by 2030, Microsoft’s USD 17.5 billion commitment to expand cloud infrastructure, and Google’s subsea cable landing project in the country.

“On pharmaceuticals, we import close to 40 per cent of our generics from India,” Gor said, adding that the US trusts India for supplying critical and life-saving medicines.

He also flagged cooperation in space, citing the recent launch of the NASA-ISRO NISAR mission and India’s participation in the Axiom-4 mission. He said the two countries are also expanding collaboration under the Artemis Accords and in commercial space opportunities.

On critical minerals, Gor welcomed India’s National Critical Minerals Mission and said both countries are working together to strengthen supply chains, processing, recycling and research partnerships in the sector.

He said that no partnership is better positioned than the one between India and the US to seize emerging opportunities, particularly in the technology sector.

The US, he said, is recalibrating its policy on export controls, suggesting that it could boost ties between the two countries in high-technology areas.