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With India and the US negotiating a trade deal, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that India has committed to purchasing $500 billion in US goods over the next five years and lauded the efforts of US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor and American diplomats.
Rubio, who is on a four-day visit to India, said in a post on X that India's imports would focus on energy, technology, and agriculture. "Huge thanks to US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor and our American diplomats for their efforts. Because of their great work, India has committed to purchasing $500 billion in US goods over the next five years, focusing on energy, technology, and agriculture. They're doing terrific work on behalf of President Trump and the American people!" Rubio said in a post on X. The United States and India announced in February this year that they have reached a framework for an Interim Agreement regarding reciprocal and mutually beneficial trade. The framework reaffirmed the countries' commitment to the broader US-India Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) negotiations, launched by US President Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 13, 2025, which, the two countries said, will include additional market access commitments and support more resilient supply chains. According to the Joint Statement, "India intends to purchase USD 500 billion of US energy products, aircraft and aircraft parts, precious metals, technology products, and coking coal over the next five years." "India and the United States will significantly increase trade in technology products, including Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) and other goods used in data centres, and expand joint technology cooperation," the statement added. Rubio, who addressed a joint press conference with External Affairs S Jaishankar here on Sunday, said the US and India are "on the verge" of reaching a trade agreement, adding that both sides have made "tremendous progress" in talks aimed at rebalancing trade ties between the two countries. Rubio dismissed suggestions that the India-US relationship had lost momentum and said trade discussions were part of a broader global effort by the US administration to address trade imbalances. He said the trade push by the Trump administration was not specifically targeted at India but part of a wider review of America's trade arrangements globally. "The President did not say 'Let's figure out a way to create friction with India over trade.' The President came in and said, 'We have a trade situation involving the US economy that doesn't work moving forward. There's a huge imbalance that's built up, and it needs to be addressed'," Rubio said "There is virtually no country in the world that I could travel to that isn't going to raise the issue of trade because we did this from a global perspective," he added. Rubio said the US will arrive at trade arrangements around the world that are good not only for his country but also for trade partners. The US, he said, is hopeful of concluding a trade pact with India that would benefit both countries and remain sustainable in the long run. (ANI)
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