India's Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said trade talks with the US had reached a plateau, adding to growing skepticism around a deal between New Delhi and Washington.
"Negotiations are still ongoing, although we'd like to believe that both sides have reached a plateau beyond which giving or taking might be very very difficult," Sitharaman said, speaking to the press at the Munich Leaders Meeting in New Delhi on Monday.
The comments mark the first time India has acknowledged the challenges it faces in closing the trade deal with the US, and come just after US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer last week said a trade agreement was not "imminent" even as negotiations continued.
Sitharaman said the US wants to "reduce" its trade imbalance with India and make up "for all that they've lost over these years." The US goods trade deficit with India was $58.42 billion in 2025, a 27.8% increase over 2024. In the first seven months of 2026, the figure was $28.4 billion, according to US data.
"When you're talking of trade and trade imbalance being the sole criteria to reduce the imbalance, to what extent beyond negotiation can you go," she said.
Last week, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi reviewed bilateral trade, defense, energy and critical technologies during a call with US President Donald Trump. While Greer called the call "constructive" and Modi called it "productive," Trump did not comment on it.
Trump in February announced an interim trade deal with India, outlining that New Delhi had agreed to "BUY AMERICAN" at a much higher level. India, meanwhile, has been seeking preferential tariffs from the US to make its exports more competitive.
"Both countries stand to lose if no deal is finalized," Mark Linscott, former assistant US trade representative and senior advisor at the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum, told CNBC. "US exports currently face higher tariffs in the Indian market," he said, adding that if India did not strike a deal soon, "it could face much higher tariffs than other countries, and that could be a real problem given that the US market is critical for India."
Indian exports to the US currently face a 10% tariff, following the conclusion of the US Trade Representative's investigation into forced labor practices in 60 countries.