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Prime Minister Narendra Modi and United States President Donald Trump are set to meet on the sidelines of the G7 summit, which will be held in France, according to senior White House officials on Saturday. The officials have said that there might be discussions on a trade deal, and while it might not be finalised then and there, there will be a lot of technical discussions between India and US.
Senior US officials told ANI that a deal will probably not be closed during their meeting, but technical discussions will be pored over. "I think that the potential trade deal will come up. We signed a joint framework agreement earlier this year. We've been having quite intensive negotiations with the Indians over the past year. The United States had a team in India a few weeks ago," the official said. "We have free good conversations with them. I'll personally be traveling to India the following week to see if we can make further progress on the deal. The United States and India have never had a trade deal before. Our economy's function very differently. There's a lot of data approaches--the economy in India that make it difficult for our companies to do business," the official added. The official said that while the deal will not be finalised during the meeting, a lot of "technical discussions" will take place. "I don't think we'll close that deal at the G7. I think we have further technical discussions to accomplish, but I think that the leaders will have a good opportunity to touch base and take stock of where we are and how forward leaning they want to be in closing a deal in coming weeks." Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday departed from New Delhi to France for his official visit to France to participate in the G7 Summit and hold a bilateral meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron and also pay a State-visit to Slovakia--the first by an Indian Prime Minister since its independence. At the invitation of the French President Emmanuel Macron, Prime Minister Modi will be undertaking an official visit to France from 13 - 14 June 2026 at Nice, and 16 - 19 June, 2026 at Evian and Paris. Earlier on February 2, Trump announced a trade deal between the United States and India and lowered tariff from 25% to 18%. Trump announced that India will buy over $500 billion of US. Energy, Technology, Agricultural, Coal, and many other products. Trump announced that PM Modi has agreed to stop buying Russian Oil, and to buy much more from the United States and, potentially, Venezuela. (ANI)
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