Peter Navarro, Donald Trump’s chief trade advisor warns that the Trump administration is just getting started. Their targets include completing a trade deal with India. Make no mistake about the White House’s negotiating speed, Navarro continued. He described the process as going in “Trump time,” which he elaborated to mean “as fast as possible.” He sounded hopeful about the agreement, noting that it is “very close” to being signed.
In addition, last week, Vice President JD Vance visited India, where he welcomed Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s support for U.S. semiconductor investment. In their joint statements, both leaders focused on the remarkable progress achieved on their burgeoning trade deal. Navarro, who has not been directly involved in the negotiations, said he is still staying personally and deeply apprised of what’s happening in the negotiations. He routinely works alongside the Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. Lutnick says they’ve already achieved one trade agreement, but it’s still pending approval from unidentified officials in India.
“I have a deal done, done, done, done, but I need to wait for their prime minister and their parliament to give its approval, which I expect shortly.” – Howard Lutnick
Don’t take our word for it— Trump himself has weighed in on the negotiations. He claims talks are “going great” and says he feels sure a deal will come together. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confirmed this, saying that Washington is “very, very close” on an agreement with New Delhi. Bessent pointed to Trump and another leader who’ve really moved the ball a long way on the deal.
Despite these encouraging remarks, the White House has yet to disclose any specific details regarding what the trade agreement with India might entail. Now, Trump’s current tariff regime is causing some serious alarm. Consequently, both investors and consumers are becoming increasingly disillusioned with the viability of bilateral trade agreements. In addition, the secretive nature of Trump’s trade policies have fomented uncertainty in the market. As a consequence, the U.S. gross domestic product fell by 0.3% in Q1 of this year.
Since those events, Navarro has been answering these concerns, underscoring his influence in bolstering Trump’s big picture decisions. As he put it, the president is the chief tactician and the commander in chief. He continued, “I’m really just here to serve him and help him get where he wants to go in the best way possible, tactically and strategically.”
As negotiations continue, Navarro again stressed the pledge to move the process along as quickly as possible while following required protocols of Indian democracy. He stated, “In Indian democracy, it’s got to go through the prime minister and the parliament. We can’t just do that, but we’re moving in Trump time, which is to say as fast as possible.”
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