Vance and Modi welcome ‘significant’ progress on India-US trade deal

New Delhi — US vice-president JD Vance and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomed significant progress in talks for an early trade deal between the two countries, their offices said on Monday, as New Delhi rushes to avoid US tariffs and boost ties with Trump’s administration.

Vance arrived in India earlier on Monday for a largely personal four-day visit to the country with his family, which includes visiting the Taj Mahal and making a speech in the city of Jaipur, US officials said.

The two leaders also noted continued efforts towards enhancing co-operation in energy, defence and strategic technologies, among others, a statement from Modi’s office said after talks between them.

They discussed regional and global issues and called for dialogue and diplomacy as the way forward, it said, reiterating a standard Indian line about global conflicts without naming any.

New Delhi has in the past used this formulation for the war in Ukraine.

“(The) prime minister conveyed his warm greetings to President Trump and said that he looked forward to his visit to India later this year,” it added.

A statement from Vance’s office said the two leaders agreed on a road map for further discussions on trade. It said a bilateral trade agreement “presents an opportunity to negotiate a new and modern trade agreement focused on promoting job creation and citizen well-being in both countries.”

Vance’s wife, Usha, is the daughter of Indian immigrants.

Vance landed in New Delhi after a visit to Rome, where he held a private meeting with Pope Francis on Easter Sunday.

Modi and Vance reviewed and positively assessed the progress in various areas of bilateral co-operation outlined in February when the Indian leader met President Donald Trump in Washington. It includes “fairness” in their two-way trade and growing their defence partnership.

The Indian prime minister was one of the first world leaders to meet Trump after he took office, and Reuters has reported that his government is open to cutting tariffs on more than half of its imports from the US, which were worth a total $41.8bn in 2024, as part of a trade deal.

However, the US president has continued to call India a “tariff abuser” and “tariff king”.

“We are very positive that the visit will give a further boost to our bilateral ties,” Indian foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal told reporters on Thursday, speaking about Vance’s engagements in India.

The US is India’s largest trading partner and their two-way bilateral trade reached $129bn in 2024, with a $45.7bn surplus in favour of India, US government trade data show.

Officials in New Delhi are expecting to clinch a trade deal with the US within the 90-day pause on tariff hikes announced by Trump on April 9 for major trading partners, including Delhi.

India hopes to “positively conclude” the first part of the trade pact by this autumn, Indian finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in San Francisco on Monday as she started on a trip packed with engagements between the two nations.

“The long and short of engaging with the US is not just for this reciprocal tariff-related matter, but in the interest of… our largest trading partner with whom we need to have an agreement,” Sitharaman said in an address to the Indian diaspora.

Vance’s tour in India is also seen as laying the ground for Trump’s visit to the country later in the year for the summit of leaders of the Quad grouping that includes India, Australia, Japan and the US.

Harsh Pant, foreign policy head at the Observer Research Foundation think-tank in Delhi, said the timing of Vance’s visit was critical in the backdrop of trade talks.

“The fact that the US-China tensions are ramping up, and Vance in particular seems to have taken a very high-profile role in American diplomacy, also means that the visit assumes an added layer of significance,” he said.

Reuters