US, India to tackle trade at G7 but deal not imminent, US officials say

WASHINGTON: US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer will travel to India the week after the G7 leaders summit, a senior US administration official said on Saturday, saying a trade agreement was possible.

Trade would be an issue discussed during President Donald Trump’s meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during next week’s gathering in France, but no agreement on a trade deal was expected at the summit, the official said.

“We know that Prime Minister Modi is quite ambitious about the role he sees for India, the importance of the US-India relationship,” the official told reporters. “We think a potential trade deal is part of that.”

Trump would insist on reaching “a very good deal,” the official said, adding: “We think a very good deal is possible. I don’t think we’ll close that deal at the G7.”

The Group of Seven summit, to be held June 15 to 17 in the French town of Evian-les-Bains, will bring together leaders from the world’s major economies, including Trump, alongside high-level delegations from other countries such as India.

Ties between New Delhi and Washington have been strained by US tariffs on Indian goods and Trump’s repeated assertions — which India denies — that he intervened to end India’s brief conflict last year with Pakistan.

But the mood has improved in recent weeks, and the country’s trade minister, Piyush Goyal, last week said the first tranche of a bilateral trade agreement could be concluded by mid-July. India is pushing for preferential tariff treatment as part of negotiations on an interim trade deal.

The senior US official said Trump and Modi would have a good opportunity to take stock of the trade talks, but further technical discussions would likely be needed to close a deal.

The official said Canada had also reached out about further discussions on trade, and that the US welcomed Ottawa’s decision to roll back some threatened trade measures in recent days that would have hit American streaming companies.

Discussions on the US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement with Canada had been frequent but informal, and no major breakthroughs were expected at the summit, the official added.