US Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross said that neither Indian nor American government has stated that a trade deal will be signed in five minutes, but it does not see any structural reason which might stop both the nations to have a trade agreement ‘pretty quickly’.
Talking about US concerns over high trade deficit with India, Ross said that there was confusion about US position on the trade deficit. He said ‘We do feel that our deficit was too high and we intend both to increase total trade and reduce our trade deficit.’ He also noted that the deficit which arises mainly because of artificial and protectionist barriers that countries have thrown up which is a primary issue that the US is concerned with. He added that increasing exports from India would also help India and India has a wonderful opportunity right now to take advantage of trade tensions in the world.
Assuring that the announcement of trade deal is not holding back Indian trade or Indian relations either at the geopolitical level or leaders level or even trade and business level, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said ‘But we want to actually take a quantum leap in that, which is the direction in which both nations and our negotiating team are working.’ he noted that trade has to consider the past, the present, future, the political dynamics, local issues, long term issues, bilateral and multilateral commitments. He added ‘So it's a very complex story and in that complexity, we are having an absolutely wonderful engagement.’