The United States has stated that an interim trade deal with India is almost complete following a meeting between External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Manila on Wednesday.
US officials said the agreement is nearly ready after the two diplomats met on the sidelines of ASEAN and East Asia meetings. Rubio is expected to visit India before the end of the year.
Jaishankar posted on X that the discussion covered priority areas for the Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership. These include trade and tariffs, energy, defence and security, critical minerals and Artificial Intelligence.
He added that the pair exchanged views on regional, global and multilateral issues of mutual interest, including the wars in West Asia and Ukraine.