 "External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. File- ANI")
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Wednesday met with US counterpart Marco Rubio to discuss trade and supply chain issues, officials said.
The talks took place on the sidelines of a G7 foreign ministers’ conclave in Canada’s Niagara region, just two days after US President Donald Trump indicated that Washington is close to finalising a “fair” trade deal with India and plans to reduce tariffs on Indian goods.
Relations between the two countries have been strained in recent years, particularly after Trump imposed a 50 per cent tariff on Indian exports, including a 25 per cent levy on New Delhi’s procurement of Russian oil.
Following the meeting, Jaishankar described the discussion with Rubio as “good.”
”Appreciate his condolences on the loss of lives in the blast in Delhi,” the external affairs minister said on social media.
”Discussed our bilateral ties, focusing on trade and supply chains. Exchanged views on the Ukraine conflict, the Middle East/West Asia situation and Indo-Pacific,” he said.
It was the second meeting between Jaishankar and Rubio in the last two weeks. They held a meeting on the sidelines of the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) summit in Kuala Lumpur on October 27.
It is learnt that both sides are hopeful of concluding the proposed trade deal.
Five rounds of talks were held so far for the first phase of the bilateral trade agreement.
Quick Reads
View All”We’re making a deal with India, a much different deal than we had in the past. So right now, they don’t love me, but they’ll love us again,” Trump said on Monday.
Last month, an Indian official said that the two countries are very close to concluding the proposed bilateral trade agreement, as both sides are converging on most of the issues.
The official had said that the two countries are sorting out the language of the agreement.
With inputs from agencies