US President Donald Trump has said that the US and India are “pretty close” to seal a bilateral trade deal which will be “a much different kind of deal” than the pacts that the US has with others.Responding to a question on the India trade agreement, Trump, while speaking to reporters at the Oval Office, said, “They want to make a deal. We are going to make a deal. Pretty close, yeah. It’s going to be a much different kind of deal than we have done.”This echoes what US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told The Indian Express a day earlier when he said the two sides are “incredibly close” to signing the deal, and that “99 per cent” had been done.Express Interview | India, US weeks away from finalising trade deal, 99% of the work is done: Marco RubioSince early 2025 when the Trump administration entered office a second time, the US has inked trade pacts with Vietnam, Japan, South Korea, the United Kingdom and the European Union.On Tuesday, Rubio said, “I don’t want to get into the details of the sticking points. I can simply tell you that (they are) there. I won’t call them technicalities, but it’s language-related. It’s basically down to what certain words mean, what certain phrases mean. Because it’s important for both sides to have full agreement. Both sides have to 100% agree on what a deal means. If they don’t, then in the future it can unravel….I think we are incredibly close. The way I would say it is, we are weeks, not months, away from I think finalising it. I think 99% of the work is done. The remaining factor, you have to have 100% done. But I feel very positive about the trajectory that it’s on.”The trade deal, which has been in the works since February 2025 after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Trump agreed to launch negotiations, had hit a hurdle after ties soured in May 2025.Trump’s claim to brokering the ceasefire after the hostilities in the wake of Operation Sindoor put a spanner in the ties. The imposition of 50 per cent tariffs – 25 per cent as reciprocal tariffs and another 25 per cent for buying Russian energy – queered the pitch for the trade deal, and talks picked up momentum after India reduced Russian oil imports.Story continues below this adThe two sides agreed on a framework in early February this year, and were expected to sign the deal by March. But the US Supreme Court’s order striking down the President’s emergency war-time powers to impose tariffs on countries changed the negotiating field.Also Read | India-US trade deal ‘taken into account’ to waive Russia oil sanctions: Marco RubioIndian negotiators were said to have started renegotiating the terms and the tariffs in the changed circumstances. Delhi and Washington have been trying to bridge the gap.In the last six months, the negotiations have been close, but have not been concluded. In early October, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the Trump administration was working with India to finalise a bilateral trade deal, but added that an agreement was “not imminent”.Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that trade negotiations had reached a “plateau”, that further concessions or demands from either side had become “very, very difficult” as tariffs were being increasingly weaponised.Story continues below this adExpress Opinion | Washington’s Russia pivot is geopolitical shift, carries message for India-US dealOn October 14, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said that the two two countries continued to engage to iron out differences over the deal, and negotiations were heading towards a “landing point”.The very next day, US Ambassador Sergio Gor, on being asked about the status of the negotiations, said, “I won’t like to get into too many details at this stage, and let the ministers announce that. But in the grand scheme of things, big items are done.”“We are actively engaged… Within three weeks of arriving here, we announced a trade deal. The European Union trade deal took almost 20 years. So we are at an incredible pace, and I am confident that we will get it done. We are getting there. I am confident that we will have a trade deal here, as you heard Dr Jaishankar say right on this stage, and we are very close to landing it.”Express Explained | Why India-US trade deal remains elusive despite signs of progressTrump’s statement is amplifying the message that the deal is close. Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal met Greer in Milwaukee and Washington earlier this month to discuss the finer aspects of the trade deal.Story continues below this adWith the US midterm elections weeks from now, and an expected visit by Prime Minister Modi to the US for the G20 leaders’ summit, there is once again momentum to conclude the negotiations and sign the deal.Officials said Rubio’s visit to Mumbai was an outreach to India’s business elite – he met top business leaders – and his conversation with Jaishankar was focussed on India buying energy and defence equipment from the US.This appears to be paving the framework for the trade deal, which is expected to reach the USD 500 billion trade target by 2030, set by Trump and Modi at their February 2025 meeting in the White House.