Sergio Gore’s comments came at a reception organized at the US ambassador’s residence in New Delhi on Monday.
US Ambassador to India Sergio Gore on Monday said that Donald Trump’s administration is “paying attention” to India and highlighted the role of friendship between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Trump in finalizing the framework of the Indo-US trade deal.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in conversation with Ambassador Sergio Gore at a reception at the residence of the US Ambassador to India in New Delhi on Monday. (ANI)Sergio Gore’s comments came at a reception organized at the US ambassador’s residence in New Delhi on Monday.
Last week, Trump and Prime Minister Modi announced the long-awaited India-US trade deal, under which President Trump will reduce reciprocal tariffs on India to 18% from the current 25%. He also removed another 25% tariff imposed on India for buying energy from Russia.
Gore praised Trump’s friendship with Prime Minister Modi”I have been here for just over a month, and we have hit the ground running. The White House is focusing on India,” news agency ANI quoted Gor as saying. He thanked President Trump’s friendship with PM Modi, as “we were able to finally get a trade deal”.
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The reception was attended by Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, who interacted with Gore days after the conclusion of the Indo-US Interim Trade Agreement framework.
Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, British High Commissioner to India Lindy Cameron and EU Ambassador to India Harvey Delphine were also present.
At the reception, Piyush Goyal said the trade deal would not have been possible without Gore’s support.
“Thank you very much, Sergio, for all you have done to strengthen this bond between the United States and India,” Goyal said.
The commerce minister also spoke about the T20 World Cup where Team USA lost to Team India, yet termed the Americans’ “outstanding” performance.
“Sergio brought up a very important point – the USA lost the match by 18%. And I made a very humble request to him, as a suggestion, if you had made zero tariffs, you would probably have won the match,” joked Piyush Goyal.
The United States and India last week announced a framework for an interim agreement on mutually beneficial trade, reiterating their commitment to a comprehensive bilateral trade agreement (BTA).
The US said that as part of the framework, India agreed to eliminate or reduce tariffs on all US industrial products and a wide range of US agricultural and food products.
Thus, the US will impose a reciprocal tariff of 18 percent on Indian-made goods, including textiles and apparel, leather and footwear.
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