Now, US Vice-President JD Vance gives India trade deal update, says PM Modi ‘tough negotiator’ | World News

Accusing New Delhi of having “taken advantage” of Washington, US Vice-President J D Vance on Thursday reiterated that a “rebalance” of the trade relationship was on the cards. Vance also said that Prime Miner Narendra Modi is a “tough negotiator,” a statement he had made during his India visit last week.In an interview with Fox News on Thursday, Vance said “good negotiations” were underway with India, as New Delhi worked to avoid the 26 per cent import taxes threatened President Donald Trump’s adminration. The US V-P also suggested that India could be among the first to finalise a trade deal with Washington to avoid fresh tariffs.
“Modi, the Prime Miner, is a tough negotiator, but we’re going to rebalance that relationship, and that’s why the President’s doing what he’s doing,” Vance said on Fox News’s Special Report.
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Asked if India would be the first to secure a trade pact, he said: “I don’t know if it’ll be your first deal, I think it would be among the first deals for sure… we’ve got negotiations with Japan, with Korea, we’ve got negotiations going on with some folks in Europe, and obviously we’ve got a good negotiation going on in India.”
US adminration officials have repeatedly asserted that trade talks were underway with India. During an interview with CNBC’s Squawk Box on Monday, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that trade talks with India are “very close” to reaching a successful conclusion as it doesn’t have “so many high tariffs.”

“We’ve had many countries come forward and present some very good proposals, and we’re evaluating those…I would guess that India would be one of the first trade deals we would sign,” he said.
This also matched with President Donald Trump’s statement this week, when he said that the negotiations were “coming along great”. “I think we’ll have a deal with India,” Trump said. “The prime miner (Modi), as you know, was here three weeks ago, and they want to make a deal.”Story continues below this ad
But, it may still be some time before the two countries sign on the dotted line.
When a Fox News host asked US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer if a deal with India was close to the finish line, he replied: “I wouldn’t say finish line (but) close”.
“I have a standing call with India’s Trade Miner (Piyush Goyal). I sent my team to India for a week. They were here last week and I met with their chief negotiator,” he added.
Trump had announced sweeping reciprocal tariffs on several countries, including India and China, on April 2. But, the US president paused most of the tariffs for 90 days starting April 9 after claiming that over 70 countries sought exemptions or new terms. The baseline 10 per cent tariff, however, remains in place, as do the 25 per cent duties on steel, aluminium, and auto components. Notably, China doesn’t enjoy a tariff pause.
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During his Fox News appearance on Thursday, Vance raised Washington’s concerns with how the Indian market is “closed” for US agricultural products.
“What the President has said is, we just want to rebalance trade. So some of the conversations I’ve had in India, for example, I think most Americans may not know, may not appreciate this, we have great agricultural products,” Vance said. “Our farmers are making great things, but the Indian market is effectively closed off to American farmers. So what that means is that it makes American farmers and American consumers more reliant on foreign competitors to grow the food that we eat.”

He added: “What our India deal will do, fundamentally, I think, is open up India to American technology. It will open up India to American farmers. It will create more good American jobs. And it’s the kind of trade deal that Donald Trump loves.”Story continues below this ad
“He’s not anti-trade. He’s anti-unfair trade. He’s not entirely the kind of trade where foreign competitors take advantage of us, the Indians, let’s be honest, they’ve taken advantage of us for a very long time,” Vance said.
Last week, India and the US announced they had agreed on the terms of reference and formally began talks on a bilateral trade agreement (BTA) that aims to more than double trade between the two countries — from the current $190 billion to $500 billion 2030. The proposal was initiated during PM Modi’s meeting with President Trump in Washington in February. The first in-person round of negotiations kicked off in Washington on April 23, with India’s chief negotiator Rajesh Agrawal leading the delegation.