A file photo of US President Donald Trump (PTI photo)
India would not like to rush into a trade deal with the United States during President Donald Trump’s upcoming two-day visit to the subcontinent, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said during his weekly press briefing in New Delhi on Thursday.
Kumar said that even as India would like to iron out differences towards the signing of the trade deal, the Centre didn’t want to “create an artificial deadline.” “For us the interests of people are paramount,” Kumar said.
The remarks by the MEA spokesperson come four days ahead of President Trump’s maiden visit to India, in which he will be accompanied by the US First Lady Melania Trump.
The MEA spokesperson’s remarks are in consonance by earlier comments by Trump, who had reportedly said that he was "saving the deal with India" for a later stage.
“We can have a trade deal with India but I am really saving the big trade deal for later on. We are doing a very big trade deal with India. We will have it. I don’t know whether we will have it before the election, but we will have a very big deal with India," Trump was quoted as saying in US media reports on Tuesday.
