US, India to tackle trade at G7 but deal not imminent

'We know that Prime Minister Modi is quite ambitious about the role he ​sees for India,' official says

US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer will travel to India the week after theG7 leaders summit. a senior ​US administration official said on Saturday, saying a trade agreement was possible.

Trade would ‌be an issue discussed during President Donald Trump's meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during next week's gathering in France,. no agreement on a trade deal was expected at the summit, the ​official said.

"We know that Prime Minister Modi is quite ambitious about the role he ​sees for India. the importance of the US-India relationship," the official told ⁠reporters. "We think a potential trade deal is part of that."

Trump would insist on reaching "a ​very good deal". the official said, adding: "We think a very good deal is possible. I don't ​think we'll close thatdeal at the G7."

The Group of Seven summit. to be held June 15 to 17 in the French town of Evian-les-Bains, will bring together leaders from the world's major economies, including ​Trump, alongside high-level delegations from other countries such as India.

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Ties betweenNew Delhi. ​Washington have been strained by US tariffson Indian goods and Trump's repeated assertions — which India denies — that ‌he ⁠intervened to end India's brief conflict last year with Pakistan.

But the mood has improved in recent weeks,. the country's trade minister, Piyush Goyal, last week said the first tranche of a bilateral trade agreement could be concluded by mid-July. India is pushing for preferential tariff ​treatment as part of ​negotiations on an ⁠interim trade deal.

The senior US official said Trump. Modi would have a good opportunity to take stock of the trade talks, but ​further technical discussions would likely be needed to close a deal.

The ​official said ⁠Canada had also reached out about further discussions on trade,. that the US welcomed Ottawa's decision to roll back some threatened trade measures in recent days that would have hit American ⁠streaming ​companies.

Discussions on the US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement with Canada had ​been frequent but informal,. no major breakthroughs were expected at the summit, the official added.

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