Pakistan says trade deal with US will be finalised in 'few days' but Washington gives no timeline

Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar has said that the country is “very close” to securing a trade deal with the US, although the US has made no such announcement.

Dar’s comment came after he held a bilateral meeting with US State Secretary Marco Rubio on Friday. “I think we are very close to finalising a deal with US. Our teams have been here in Washington, discussing, having virtual meetings and a committee has been tasked by the prime minister to fine-tune now,” the foreign minister said.

While Dar asserted that a trade deal between the two countries would take “just a few days”, Rubio did not mention a timeline. The US State Department and Pakistan’s foreign ministry, in separate statements after Rubio’s meeting with Dar, said the two stressed in their discussion the importance of expanding trade and ties in critical minerals and mining.

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A post by Rubio on X after the meeting and the State Department’s statement mentioned no timeline for finalising a trade deal.

Met with Pakistani Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister @MIshaqDar50 today to discuss expanding bilateral trade and enhancing collaboration in the critical minerals sector. I also thanked him for Pakistan’s partnership in countering terrorism and preserving regional… pic.twitter.com/QZB9RZwIA8

— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) July 25, 2025

Meanwhile, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs has said that India and the US are finalising the “first tranche of a mutually beneficial, multi-sector Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA).”

Replying to a question posed by the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, MEA said that trade teams from both the nations are currently engaged in negotiations on the BTA and discussions are “aimed at adopting an integrated approach to further strengthen and deepen bilateral trade relations, including through enhanced mutual market access, reduction of tariff and non-tariff barriers, and closer integration of supply chains.”

US President Donald Trump, similarly, said earlier this month that his administration is  “very close” to finalising a trade deal with India. “We’re very close to a deal with India where they open it [the market] up.”