WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd November, 2019) The United States and India are progressing in their trade talks but still need time to reach a mutually beneficial agreement, India's Ambassador to the United States Harsh Vardhan Shringla told Sputnik.
"We have had trade talks close to two years," Shringla said on Thursday. "There has been progress, but I think we still need to do some more work before we can conclude this."
The ambassador added that a US delegation was currently in India to iron out the remaining differences.
"There is an official delegation in India now from what I understand. We will continue to discuss aspects related to trade in a bid to try and find some sort of, let's say, trade package that can be mutually beneficial to both countries," ambassador said.
When asked how long it may take to come to an agreement, Shringla said it was difficult to provide a time line. "But I'm optimistic that we can reach a conclusion sooner rather than later," he added.
Last year, the US refused to exempt India from steel and aluminum tariffs. In June 2019, the US President Donald Trump also removed trade privileges for the country under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), affecting over five billion Dollars' worth of Indian duty-free products. That same month, India retaliated by slapping tariffs on 28 US goods.
