India and the United States have resolved most of the outstanding issues in their proposed trade agreement, including tariff-related matters, and the pact could be finalised soon, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Saturday (November 14), signalling that negotiations between the two countries have entered their final phase.
Speaking at the HT Leadership Summit in Delhi, Jaishankar expressed optimism about the progress of negotiations, saying both sides were approaching the “finishing line” and that the remaining concerns were largely linked to developments on the American side.
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“Well, it’s certainly our hope, and in many ways anticipation, that we are at the last stretch,” he said, adding that the bulk of the issues had already been sorted out.
“The hope is that we should close it out soon,” he noted.
Modi’s US visit
The development assumes significance ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s likely visit to the United States for the G20 Summit in Miami on December 14 and 15.
Modi is expected to meet US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the summit, providing an opportunity for the two leaders to review bilateral relations and the progress of the proposed trade agreement.
The possibility of an announcement on the trade pact during or around the summit has generated considerable interest, although no formal timeline has been confirmed.
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US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had also indicated last month, during his visit to Mumbai, that the two countries were very close to finalising the agreement.
China border has become ‘more alive’: Jaishankar
At the same summit, Jaishankar said India’s border with China has become “more alive” and requires a much greater commitment of Indian troops on a sustained basis. He also listed New Delhi’s policy approach to enhance infrastructure along the frontier.
Jaishankar also said that India has bolstered its military capabilities along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) since the deadly clashes in Eastern Ladakh’s Galwan Valley in 2020.
His remarks came amid ongoing efforts by New Delhi and Beijing to normalise their relations that came under severe strain following the over four-year border face-off in Eastern Ladakh.
“Just think about the last few years. How often do you now read – a new tunnel has been built, some new bridge has been built, another airfield has been commissioned. You’re getting this news with greater and greater frequency,” he said.
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“What has happened today is the border with China has become more alive in a way. It has required a much greater commitment of troops on a sustained basis.”
“The fact is that the work we had already done allowed that kind of numbers to be deployed out there, and the work we continue to do will maintain those numbers,” he said.
A more transactional world order
Amid the major conflicts in West Asia and Ukraine, a new multipolar world order marked by sharp competition, a growing number of autonomous decision-making centres and a more transactional global approach is taking shape, Jaishankar said at the summit.
Jaishankar said the world is undergoing a major transition and it will be much more complex and less predictable because of the increasing number of “self-centred” players, citing multiple conflicts, frictions, uncertainty and volatility impacting countries across geographies.
“That will be the culture or the ethos of the era that we are moving into. I don’t want you to get a sort of picture of anarchy, but definitely sharper competition, more national assertions, and in that sense inherently a more unstable (world),” he said.
Jaishankar said the new order would be more multipolar and would have many more centres of autonomous decision-making.
“Countries overall would be much more national in their choices and decisions. Alliances will be less cohesive because of national interests and more transactional because they feed into each other: less cohesive, more transactional,” he said.
The external affairs minister said India will have to deal with the new reality by developing greater capacities within the country and underlined the importance of the Modi government’s “Atmanirbhar Bharat” and “Make in India” initiatives.
“For me, these are the building blocks of our foreign policy because you cannot have an effective foreign policy in this era without much stronger national capacities.”
(With agency inputs)