India, US actively engaged on trade deal; next call on Jan 13: Sergio Gor

India and the United States (US) continue to remain “actively” engaged on the proposed trade deal and the “next call” will take place as early as Tuesday, US ambassador to India Sergio Gor said.

“Both sides continue to actively engage. In fact, the next call on trade is tomorrow. Remember India is the world's largest nation. It is not an easy task to get it across the finished line. But we are determined to get there,” Gor said in his first public address after taking over as the ambassador in New Delhi on Monday.

Gor, who is a close aide of American President Donald Trump, joined amid uncertainty surrounding the finalisation of the bilateral trade deal between both the countries. He is also expected to play a crucial role in strengthening strategic ties between New Delhi and Washington, and taking the partnership to the “next level”.

In New Delhi’s strongest responses to comments by a senior American official in recent months, India, last week, rejected as “not accurate”, remarks by US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick that a proposed bilateral trade deal failed to materialise last year because Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not place a telephone call to US President Donald Trump.

On Friday, Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), said the two countries had “on several occasions been close to a deal,” signalling that responsibility for the impasse did not rest solely with New Delhi, as suggested by Lutnick in comments made during an interview on Thursday.

Although India was the first country to initiate trade talks with the US in March last year, uncertainty over finalising an agreement has persisted.

Trade talks between India and the US came close to completion before stalling around July last year. In August, Trump imposed a 50 per cent tariff on several Indian goods, including a 25 per cent punitive duty for India’s purchases of Russian oil.

The two sides have been working toward a broad bilateral trade agreement, as well as a more limited framework deal aimed at easing the impact of the 50 per cent tariffs on Indian exporters. Both the countries missed a 2025 “fall” deadline for the framework agreement despite more than six rounds of negotiations.