Washington and New Delhi are as “close as you can be without having executed the agreement” to completing a trade deal, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters in Mumbai on Tuesday ahead of talks with Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.

“I think there’s a small number of items left to wrap up, so I think that will happen shortly,” Rubio said.

The two top diplomats discussed regional developments and ways to strengthen bilateral ties in trade, energy, technology and defense. Previous trade negotiations had stalled over India’s resistance to opening politically sensitive agricultural sectors, including poultry, dairy, rice and wheat, to U.S. competition, as well as its reliance on Russian oil imports, which had exposed New Delhi to the threat of tariffs of up to 100 percent until President Donald Trump waived the impending sanctions on Friday.

The Trump administration had already imposed tariffs totaling up to 50 percent on most Indian goods in August 2025, including a penalty for India’s purchases of discounted Russian oil. While a framework reached in February lowered the rate to 18 percent, New Delhi has continued to push for terms that will give its exporters a competitive edge over regional rivals such as Vietnam, China and Bangladesh.

Experts say uncertainty over the legal basis for Trump’s tariffs also delayed a final agreement after a bevy of lawsuits—which culminated in the Supreme Court’s February repudiation of the president’s authority—undermined the reciprocal duties forming the basis of the deal.

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