India and the United States have reached a plateau in their trade deal talks, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Monday, a further sign that the two sides may have hit a wall on a crucial deal.
Giving or taking more beyond that plateau would be "very, very difficult" for both countries, Sitharaman said at an event in New Delhi.
"Maybe if there are rooms to operate from, both sides would do it," she added.
She was speaking at Munich Security Conference at The Imperial New Delhi hotel.
The Finance Minister comment comes days after US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said that a trade agreement with India was not imminent.
Greer made the remarks following a meeting with Indian Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal in the United States.
"It's been a hard and very vigorously negotiated agreement. The negotiations are still ongoing," Sitharaman said.
The two countries have been negotiating a trade agreement since February 2025 as they seek to deepen economic ties and resolve long-standing market access issues.
Sitharaman said the trade balance between the two countries was in India's favour and the deficit was Washington's.
"They would want to reduce that imbalance," she said.
She emphasised on the trade imbalance between the two countries and attempts by US to correct those trade imbalance in its favour, to accrue the benefits that comes with it.
