US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Tuesday (April 29) said that the President Donald Trump's administration is "very close" to finalise a trade agreement with India, adding that it easy to do with India. 

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Bessent was speaking at a press briefing alongside White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. The US treasury secretary said that negotiations with India have been "relatively smooth". 

He noted that it is easy to negotiate because of the high tariffs, adding that the talks with the country are "moving well". 

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He recalled US Vice President JD Vance's meeting with PM Modi. 

"America's Asian trading partners and allies have been the most forthcoming in terms of doing the deals. As I mentioned, Vice President Vance was in India last week. I think that he and (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi made some very good progress. So I could see some announcements on India," Bessent told reporters at the White House.

When asked about the timeline for a trade deal, Bessent said, "I think that we are very close on India and in India...India, in a funny way, is easier to negotiate than the many other countries because they have very high tariffs and lots of tariffs."

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He added that it's much easier to confront the direct tariffs "when we got through these unfair trade deals that have been put in over decades, that the non-tariff trade barriers can be much more insidious and also harder to detect."

Bessent said that with a country like India, it is much easier to negotiate with them. 

"So I think the Indian negotiations are moving well," he said.

Earlier on Monday, the US treasury secretary told CNBC that India is likely to be among the first countries to finalise a bilateral trade agreement with the US. 

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