India likely among 'first' to sign trade deal: US Treasury Secretary

New York: US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has reiterated that India would likely be among the “first” to sign a trade deal with the US following President Donald Trump’s demands for realigning economic relations under the threat of tariffs.

“Vice President [JD] Vance was in India last week, talked about substantial progress”, he said on Monday.

“I would guess that India would be one of the first trade deals we would sign”, he told CNBC.

Later, he told reporters that the first agreement could come as early as last week.

Reframing trade relations was one of the pillars of Trump’s election campaign. With negotiations proceeding slowly overall as he enters his 100th day in office, a deal with India, the world’s fifth-largest economy, would be a significant breakthrough for him.

Last week Bessent explained to reporters why a deal with India could come soon.

India has “fewer non-tariff trade barriers, obviously, no currency manipulation, very, very little government subsidies, so that reaching a deal with the Indians is much easier,” he said.

During his visit to India last week, Vance discussed trade with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and both sides said that a roadmap has been set for the negotiations.

Vance said, “We’re especially excited to formally announce that America and India have officially finalised the terms of reference for the trade negotiations”.

“This”, he said, “is a vital step toward realising President Trump and Prime Minister Modi’s vision because it sets a roadmap toward a final deal between our nations. I believe there is much, America and India can accomplish together”.

India faces a 26 per cent tariff rate when Trump’s reciprocal tariff regime takes effect in July if there is no bilateral agreement.

Bessent also said that negotiations with South Korea “have gone very well” and there have been “some very substantial negotiations” with Japan.

Initially there had been hopes of early deals with Japan when Trump joined trade talks with Japan earlier this month, but it fizzled out.

South Korean officials have said that a deal was unlikely before the presidential elections on June 3.

As for China, he said that it was up to it to make a move.

“I believe it’s up to China to de-escalate because they sell five times more to us than we sell to them, so these 125% tariffs are unsustainable”, he said.

He added that China exempting some US products from higher tariffs as high as 125 per cent showed that Beijing was deescalating the situation.

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