Foreign Minister Jaishankar has said negotiations for a trade deal with Washington are ongoing

Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar has rejected claims made by US President Donald Trump that the countries were close to finalizing a trade deal, under which New Delhi would essentially eliminate tariffs on American goods, according to local media. He added that negotiations between the countries were still underway.

At a business forum in Qatar on Thursday, Trump asserted that India had offered the US a trade deal with "basically zero tariffs."

Speaking to the media, Jaishankar said trade talks between India and the US were ongoing and complex, emphasizing that "it has to work for both countries" and that their "expectation" is that any trade deal should be "mutually beneficial," India Today reported.

The Indian foreign minister added it would be premature to judge the outcome of talks until the negotiations are complete.

US Vice President J.D. Vance announced last month that the two countries had agreed on terms for bilateral trade negotiations, calling it a roadmap to a final deal. New Delhi is pushing to wrap up a trade deal with the US before a 90-day tariff reprieve announced by Trump on April 9 expires.

The US president had imposed a 26% tariff on Indian goods as part of his "Liberation Day" declarations. On Tuesday, India approached the World Trade Organization (WTO) with a proposal to impose retaliatory duties against the US over American tariffs on steel and aluminum.

This move comes after the US imposed a 25% tariff onsteel and aluminum importsin March, which was an extension of measures initially introduced in 2018 during Trump's first term as president.

On Thursday, the US president advisedAppleCEO, Tim Cook, to avoid expanding the company's manufacturing operations in the South Asian country.

(RT.com)