Just one percent of trade talks left; agreement to be signed in weeks & months: US Ambassador Sergio Gor

The United States and India are just "weeks & months" away from signing an interim trade agreement, with only the final "one percent" of negotiations left, US Ambassador Sergio Gor said on Friday.

“Last week, India had sent a team to Washington, DC to finalise the last 1% of their trade deal. Next week, we welcome a US delegation here to continue those talks. We fully expect that the trade deal will be signed over the next few weeks and months,” Ambassador Gor told an audience at IIT Delhi.

The announcement comes amid a flurry of high-level engagement. Just days earlier, Secretary of State Marco Rubio completed his first visit to India, a four-day trip that included meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval. The visit delivered outcome on critical minerals.

Bilateral trade has already grown dramatically from $20 billion to over $220 billion in two decades. The new pact is expected to further unlock opportunities in high-value sectors including advanced manufacturing, digital trade and emerging technologies.

At the heart of the relationship is the TRUST initiative (Utilising Strategic Technologies), launched by President Trump and Prime Minister Modi at the White House last year. Ambassador Gor described it as a platform for government, academia and private-sector collaboration in artificial intelligence, semiconductors, quantum computing, biotechnology, energy and space.

“India is one of those partners today,” he said, stressing that such deep technology ties are reserved for trusted allies. “This is something that’s not expanded to everyone around the world.”

Major US investments are already flowing. Amazon plans to invest $35 billion in India by 2030 for AI-driven projects, Microsoft has committed $17.1 billion for cloud infrastructure, and Google has broken ground on a $15 billion subsea cable landing station.

In pharmaceuticals, the US imports nearly 40% of its generics from India. “There’s a reason the United States does that. It is because we trust India,” Gor noted.

Space cooperation is also accelerating. The NASA-ISRO NISAR mission, valued at $1.5 billion, and Indian astronaut training with NASA highlight the partnership’s reach.

Ambassador Gor, joined briefly by Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy Sarah Rogers, framed the relationship as “the defining strategic partnership of the 21st century” at a time when critical technologies are reshaping global power balances.