US president Donald Trump has again said that India is ready to cut 100 per cent tariffs on American goods and that a trade deal between the two countries is expected soon.
Speaking to Fox News, Trump said he is not in a "rush" to finalise the deal.
Commenting on Trump's remarks, India's external affairs minister S Jaishankar said in New Delhi on Thursday that any trade deal between the two countries must be mutually beneficial.
Trump referred to India as "one of the highest tariff nations in the world."
"They make it almost impossible to do business. Do you know that they're willing to cut 100 per cent of their tariffs for the United States?" he said.
When asked if the deal is coming soon, Trump said, "That'll come soon. I'm in no rush. Look, everybody wants to make a deal with us."
He added, "South Korea wants to make a deal but I'm not going to make deals with everybody. I'm just going to set the limit. I'll make another some deals. Because I can't, you can't meet with that many people. I've got 150 countries that want to make deals."
Talks are currently ongoing between India and the US to finalise a trade agreement.
On Thursday, Jaishankar said that negotiations were underway.
"These are complicated negotiations. Nothing is decided till everything is. Any trade deal has to be mutually beneficial; it has to work for both countries," he said. "That would be our expectation from the trade deal."
India's commerce minister Piyush Goyal is in Washington to assess the progress of the proposed trade agreement.
He is expected to meet US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick and US Trade Representative (USTR) Jamieson Greer.
India is looking for duty concessions on labour-intensive sectors including textiles, gems and jewellery, leather goods, garments, plastics, chemicals, shrimp, oil seeds, chemicals, grapes, and bananas.
The US is seeking duty concessions in areas such as industrial goods, automobiles (especially electric vehicles), wines, petrochemical products, dairy, and agricultural items like apples and tree nuts.
(With inputs from PTI)
