India-US trade deal: United States' Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Sunday said that Washington is close to reaching agreements on several trade deals, according to Reuters. His comments came ahead of a 9 July tariff pause deadline, hinting at several big announcements by the Donald Trump administration in the coming days.
According to the report, US Treasury Secretary Bessent also said that the government will send letters to 100 small countries with whom the U.S. doesn't have much trade to notify them that they will be facing higher tariff rates, which were set on 2 April 2025.
“President Trump's going to be sending letters to some of our trading partners saying that, if you don't move things along, then on August 1, you will boomerang back to your April 2 tariff level. So I think we're going to see a lot of deals very quickly,” Bessent said, according to the agency report.
US Treasury Secretary Bessent's hints of a major announcement in the coming days bring some hope of a potential trade deal between India and the US, as both nations have been engaged in their negotiations, keeping their individual national interest as a top priority.
India's Union Minister for Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal, has clearly indicated that the nation will not enter into any trade deal under pressure. The Indian investors and industries are eagerly waiting for the final announcements on the potential trade deal as Trump's 90-day tariff pause nears the deadline on 9 July 2025.
“India discusses on its own terms and we never make a trade deal based on a timeline; when the deal is good, fully matured, and in the national interest, then we accept it,” said Union Minister Piyush Goyal last week, according to Mint's earlier report.
This deadline will impose a series of tariffs on many nations, including India, which will face a 26% tariff rate on top of the baseline tariffs for any imports from the Asian nation into the United States.
President Donald Trump on Saturday said that he signed letters to 12 countries outlining the various tariff levels they would face on goods they export to the United States, as per an earlier agency report. However, no names of any nation were disclosed in the update.
Trump, on board Air Force One, told reporters that the “take it or leave it” letters would be sent to the nations on Monday, July 7, 2025.
"I signed some letters and they'll go out on Monday, probably twelve," Trump said, when asked about his plans on the tariffs. “Different amounts of money, different amounts of tariffs.”
As per earlier media reports, the US is seeking duty concessions in the agriculture, automobiles, wines, petrochemical products and dairy sectors, while India wants duty cuts on items like textiles, gems and jewellery, leather goods, garments, plastics, chemicals, shrimp, oil seeds, grapes, and bananas.
If US trading partners ranging from Taiwan to the European Union do not strike deals with the US, they will be subject to the Trump tariffs effective 1 August 2025, according to the agency report citing Bessent.
The US Treasury Secretary refused to name countries that were close to a trade agreement, stating that he doesn't want to let them “off the hook.”
On 2 April 2025, US President Donald Trump announced a 10% baseline tariff and additional reciprocal rates for nations around the world that trade with the US, with some rates ranging as high as 50%.
Later, Trump paused the tariffs except for the 10% baseline rates for all imports into the United States. This tariff pause was for a 90-day period ending on 9 July 2025, during which the world nations could negotiate and secure trade deals with the Trump administration.
According to the agency report, the tariff rates could even be higher, up to 70% with many set to go into effect on 1 August 2025. However, the US Treasury Secretary denied that 1 August was a new deadline for negotiations.
These 70% tariff rates were not mentioned in the 2 April 2025 tariff list. However, Bessent, when asked about it, referred to the earlier announcement, according to the agency report.