Washington

US President Donald Trump said that India and the US are "pretty close" to reaching a trade deal, which will be much different than the earlier pacts.

Speaking to reporters at the Oval Office on Tuesday, Trump said India and the US were pretty close to making a trade deal. "They want to make a deal. We're going to make a deal. Pretty close, yeah," Trump said in response to a question. "It's going to be a much different kind of deal than we've done," the President said.

Trump’s remarks came at a time Secretary of State Marco Rubio was visiting India and discussed further strengthening bilateral relations focussing on sectors such as trade, energy, technology, defence and people-to-people ties.

Earlier, Rubio also said Washington was “trying to finalise a trade deal with India” and was “very close to doing that.”

Earlier this month, Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal met US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer in Milwaukee and Washington to discuss the finer aspects of the trade deal. He recently said the first tranche of the India-US bilateral trade agreement had been finalised and was undergoing legal drafting, with the government hoping to complete the process soon.