India-US to talk on trade deal today; India to join US-led initiative on advanced tech

The ambassador also said that India would be invited to Pax Silica initiative of the US as a full member. Pax Silicon aims to build a secure, and innovation driven silicon supply chain from critical minerals and energy inputs.

India and the US will get back on call on Tuesday on the matters related to the trade deal that has been negotiated between the two sides since March last year, US ambassador to India Sergio Gor said.

“Both signs continue to actively engage (on trade deal). In fact, the next call on trade will occur tomorrow,” Gor said in his address to the media and staff on his first day in office. The new ambassador is yet to present his credentials to the President. 

Backdrop of the new ambassador’s comments

His comments came after last week’s developments where a bill to increase tariffs to 500% on countries buying Russian oil and uranium was approved by Trump and comments by US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick that the deal was ready but Modi did not call Trump and when India got back it was told that they are late for the deal that was on offer. 

These comments were disputed by India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal also commented on Lutnick remarks saying that there is no need to believe statements from abroad. The time period that the US commerce secretary was referring to would be around July-August last year when the US signed a spate of trade deals just before the imposition of reciprocal tariffs by end-August.

The reciprocal tariffs of 25% and another 25% for buying Russian oil had led to a freeze in trade negotiations for a short while before Goyal visited the US in September to restart them. Since then there have been regular exchanges of delegations. A group of officials from the office of US Trade Representative visited India and held extensive discussions on the agreement on December 10-11.

“Real friends can disagree, but always resolve their differences in the end…  Remember, it (India) is the world’s largest nation so it’s not an easy task to get this across the finish line but we are determined to get there,” Gor added. “ I also hope that the president will be visiting India soon, hopefully next year or two,” the ambassador said and also pointed to the friendship between Trump and Modi.

“Last week, our great secretary of State, Marco Rubio, powerfully stated that this year will be a year of reciprocity. We are raising the standard for diplomacy itself. That means fair trade, mutual respect, and shared security.”

He said that relations between India and the US are bound not just by shared interests but by relationships anchored at the highest levels and “no partner is more essential than India”.

India to be invited to Pax Silica?

The ambassador also said that India would be invited to Pax Silica initiative of the US as a full member. Pax Silicon aims to build a secure, and innovation driven silicon supply chain from critical minerals and energy inputs to advanced manufacturing, semiconductors, AI development, and logistics. Nations that joined last month include Japan, South Korea, the United Kingdom, Israel, Netherlands and Australia among others.

Pax Silica aims to reduce coercive dependencies, protect the materials and capabilities foundational to artificial intelligence, and ensure aligned nations can develop and deploy transformative technologies at scale.

In February, India and the US decided to complete negotiations on the first tranche Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) by November last year. By March, they had finalised the Terms of Reference of the agreement. 

The exporters are waiting for an early conclusion of the deal as the US is India’s biggest export market. The US goods and services trade with India totaled an estimated $212.3 billion in 2024, up 8.3 percent ($16.3 billion) from 2023, according to the office of USTR. India’s goods exports to the US stood at $ 87.3 billion and imports were $41.5 billion. Total services trade was at an estimated $83.4 billion in 2024. India exported $ 41,6 billion services to the US and imported $41.8 billion.