US President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi have set a goal of increasing the overall bilateral trade flows between the United States and India to $500 billion, according to Jacob Helberg, the Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and Environment.
On Tuesday morning (US time), the top Trump admin official delivered serious remarks about the ties between the US and India, and the current American government aiming to the end Russia’s war in Ukraine. While at the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s hearing titled “Advancing National Security through Commercial Diplomacy,” highlighted the role of “secondary sanctions” enforced by the US while instating a “policy of maximum press on Russia.”
US Under Secretary on India-US trade goal
“The content of the bilateral statement on trade include historic purchases by India from the US on energy, historic cross-border investment and I believe it was in the first quarter of the President’s administration, PM Modi and President Trump set a goal of increasing overall bilateral trade flows to $500 billion,” Helberg said at the hearing. “So, I am incredibly confident in the trajectory of the US-Indian relationship.”
Further pointing to the work being put in by the newly appointed US Ambassador to India, Sergio Gor, he added, “Our new ambassador there is doing an unbelievable job.”
New tariff ruling and India-US trade agreement in focus
Noting that the administration was dedicated to bring an end to war in Ukraine, Helberg pointed towards the imposition of secondary sanctions, which have since severely affected India as well. Despite the constant back-and-forth on the trade issue, the US and India finally reached a bilateral joint statement on trade, bringing about positive resolutions and discussions.
The current interim trade agreement between the two nations may need some work in light of a recent US court ruling branding Trump’s emergency global tariffs “illegal.” However, Modi and Trump had already agreed upon a decision earlier this month, confirming that a trade deal between their countries would bring down the hefty 50% tariffs on India to 18%.
Trump especially highlighted in his then-shared Truth Social post that after a conversation with PM Modi, India had agreed to stop purchasing Russian oil, potentially looking at crude produced by the US and Venezuela as its replacement. At the time, the POTUS also emphasised in his Truth Social post that India would be moving forward “to reduce their Tariffs and Non Tariff Barriers against the United States to ZERO.”