Donald Trump hints at India-US trade deal: 'very close to...'

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday hinted at reaching a new trade deal with India soon. While adding "maybe", he said that currently the US is in negotiations with India.

Trump, while speaking to reporters during a bilateral meeting with Bahrain's Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, emphasised that August 1 will be a significant day, when a lot of money will come into his country.

"... We've brought in over $100 billion. The tariffs haven't kicked in significantly, except for automobiles and steel. August 1st is when a very substantial money comes into our country. We've made deals with numerous places. We had one yesterday," Trump said.

"We have another one (deal) coming up, maybe with India... We're in negotiation. When I send out a letter, that's a deal... The best deal we can make is to send out a letter, and the letter says that you'll pay 30%, 35%, 25%, 20%... We have some pretty good deals to announce... We're very close to a deal with India where they open it up," Trump added.

The US President on Tuesday said the United States is working on a deal that gives it access to the Indian markets. He also announced a new trade deal with Indonesia, after which the latter will face a reduced tariff rate of 19 per cent.

Announcing progress on the India part, Trump stated, "We're going to have access into India. And you have to understand, we had no access into any of these countries. Our people couldn't go in. And now we're getting access because of what we're doing with the tariffs."

The ongoing bilateral trade talks (BTA) negotiations by India and the United States (US) are progressing as per the decisions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump, said the government officials on Tuesday.

"Our team is back in the US for carrying out the fifth round of negotiations on the bilateral trade agreement, so that agreement is progressing as per the decisions of our leaders and as per the terms of reference decided between the two countries," the government officials told ANI. 

(This story has not been edited by DNA staff and is published from ANI)