India and the United States are expected to sign a trade deal during President Donald Trump's two-day visit to India in the last week of February, according to reports. As Trump is scheduled to visit India on February 23 and 26, trade officials of both the countries are giving final touches to the proposed deal.
"The trade deal and a pact on further enhancing defence cooperation are likely to be sealed during the visit by the US president," said a source.
India is seeking exemption from high duties imposed by the US on certain steel and aluminium products as well as the resumption of benefits on tariff on certain products under their Generalised System of Preferences (GSP).
India is also pressing the US to facilitate greater market access for its products in the US in sectors such as agriculture, automobile, auto components and engineering.
On the other hand, the US wants greater market access for its farm and manufacturing products, dairy items and medical devices in India.
Trump's maiden visit
Both the countries are in the process of fine-tuning his schedule, sources were quoted as saying by PTI. The main segment of the visit will take place in Delhi, though an option of having a short visit by Donald Trump to another city is being explored.
The cities which are being considered include Agra and Ahmedabad. A high-level logistics team from Washington handling Trump's foreign trips visited India last week as part of preparations for his maiden tour of India.
India-US relations
In 2018-19, India's exports to the US stood at $52.4 billion, while imports were $35.5 billion. Trade deficit dipped from $ 21.3 billion in 2017-18 to $16.9 billion in 2018-19.
India received FDI worth $3.13 billion from the US in 2018-19, higher than $2 billion in 2017-18.
India had invited Donald Trump to grace the Republic Day parade as the chief guest last year but the US President could not come due to scheduling issues.
During his visit to the US in September last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had reminded Trump of his invitation to him to visit India along with his family
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh during their visit to Washington last month conveyed to the US side that India was waiting to host Donald Trump.
Donald Trump will seek re-election in presidential polls scheduled to take place in November.
(With agency inputs)
