US President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi shake hands at the White House in Washington, DC, SH.BA, February 13, 2025.
Kevin Lamarque | Reuters
New Delhi and Washington will work for more than double -sided bilateral trade at $ 500 billion by 2030, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Thursday at a joint press conference with US President Donald Trump on Thursday.
Speaking at the end of the meeting of the two leaders in Washington, Modi also said that “our teams will work to finish very quickly, a mutually useful trading agreement.”
Trump accepted India’s last move to reduce tariffs in selected imports and said he would begin talks on trade inequalities and hoped to reach an agreement.
The remarks came hours after Trump signed a presidential memorandum, describing its plan to impose “reciprocal tariffs” on foreign nations, including India.
The US would simply charge the same tariff tariffs that India accuses, Trump said, while the trade deficit with India could be addressed with the sale of oil and gas.
India’s average simple tariff in countries with the most favored status of the nation stands at 17%, compared to the US 3.3%. The US enjoys the status of MFN with most of the main economies.
The total trade of US goods with India is estimated at $ 129 billion in 2024, according to the US Trade Representative Office. India’s Suckus with SH.BA, its second -largest trading partner, reached $ 45.7 billion last year.
SH.BA will increase its military sales in India starting this year and ultimately provides F-35 fighter jets for the Asian ally, Trump said at the conference, in an effort to face what he and called the “threat of radical Islamic terrorism”. India is the largest importer of world protection equipment.
Modi said that India and the US will also work together on the development of artificial intelligence and semiconductors as they focus on creating strong supply chains for strategic minerals.
The high goal of $ 500 billion in trade may be accessible, Raghuram Rajan, Professor of Finance at the University of Chicago Booth Business School and former Guard of India Bank, “Squawk Box Azi” told CNBC.
In addition to leaving Russia – India’s main defense supplier – to the US for weapons, India can also increase its purchases of liquefied natural gas from American manufacturers, Rajan added.
The Trump-Mode meeting had the threat of US fees that fell big.
“We are, now, a reciprocal nation … We will have whatever it loads in India, we are loading them. Whatever another country, we are loading them. So it is called reciprocal, which I think That it is a very fair way, ”the US president said at the press conference.
The president said that the reciprocal tariffs will not take effect immediately after his administration works in determining the appropriate levels of tariffs for each affected country.
Trump has already hit tariffs in China, Canada and Mexico, as well as the global tariff on steel and aluminum imports. Trump’s tariffs in Canada and Mexico are currently in pause as both countries pledged to hit illegal drug trafficking on their respective borders with SH.BA
Despite the encouraging tones from The meeting, signs of friction remain in the US-Indi relationship, said Daniel Balazs, a researcher at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, such as the illegal issue of immigration and India’s close ties with Russia.
“The latter, in particular, is unlikely to leave at all times soon and will probably remain a injured point between the two sides,” he said.
