Mumbai: “Watch this space,” said External Affairs Minister Dr S. Jaishankar. “It’s not done till it’s done.” In an interview with Newsweek during a fireside chat on India’s evolving foreign policy and global stature, Dr Jaishankar characterised that India and the United States are currently engaged in “very intricate” trade negotiations offering insights into the depth and complexity of the ongoing trade dialogue between the two nations.
“We are in the middle, hopefully, more than the middle of a very intricate trade negotiation,” he said. “My hope would be that we bring it to a successful conclusion. I cannot guarantee it because there’s another party to that discussion. But no question, we do think today that trade, you know, there will have to be give and take.”
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The comments came a week before the July 9 deadline set by Trump for imposing the tariffs. The minister emphasised the realistic challenges of aligning expectations on both sides. “Just like the U.S. or people in the U.S. may have views about India, people in India have views about the U.S. too. And we’ll have to find a kind of meeting ground there. I believe it’s possible.” The minister also shed light on the sheer scale of the undertaking.
“You are really looking at thousands of lines and doing very intricate trade-offs, both based on what are actually the market values of those lines and what could be the expected market values,” Jaishankar explained. “So these are not simple back-of-the-envelope calculations, far from it.” According to him, discussions have intensified in recent months, and India’s delegation is currently in Washington for negotiations. “I suspect we would be among the countries which have done the most [in terms of rounds of discussions],” he stated.
On The Future Of The Free Trade Agreement
When asked specifically about the future of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the U.S., Jaishankar clarified that what is under negotiation is not a traditional FTA, but rather a Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA), which does not require Congressional approval. “If it’s an FTA, it’s got to go to the U.S. Congress. If it’s a BTA, it doesn’t go to the Congress. The boundaries are a little tighter there,” he said.
He reiterated India’s long-standing position on bilateral issues with Pakistan: “We never allow foreign countries or any third party to mediate a dispute that’s happened between India and Pakistan.” Referring to a critical moment, he recalled, “I was in the room when Vice President Wan spoke to Prime Minister Modi on the night of 9th May, saying that the Pakistanis would launch a very massive assault on India. The Prime Minister was impervious to what the Pakistanis were threatening to do.” Still, he struck an optimistic note, calling diplomacy an “optimistic profession” and expressing confidence in the professionalism of the trade teams.
“The trade people are doing what the trade people should be doing, which is negotiating with numbers and lines and products and doing their trade-offs. I think they’re very professional and very, very focused.” Jaishankar was also asked whether U.S. President Donald Trump’s repeated offers to mediate between India and Pakistan have had any impact on trade negotiations. His answer was firm: “No, I don’t think so.” He added, “I can only tell you from my personal experience what happened. The rest, I’ll leave to you.”
Despite political distractions, Jaishankar made it clear that the trade teams are focused and undeterred. “They’re doing their job, and doing it well,” he said. In a strong endorsement from Washington, the White House has reaffirmed India's importance as a "key strategic ally" in the Indo-Pacific region while confirming that a long-anticipated trade deal is "very close" to announcement. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, during a press briefing on Monday, praised India’s growing role and influence in Asia-Pacific affairs. She stated, “India remains a very strategic ally in the Asia Pacific and the President has a very good relationship with Prime Minister Modi, and he will continue to have that.”
