New Delhi, Oct. 26 -- The recent visit of the US secretary of state Marco Rubio to Mumbai has rekindled optimism about the India-US trade deal. US President Donald Trump has also weighed in, saying that the two countries are "pretty close" to a trade agreement, which will be a "different kind of deal." What could be the contents of the trade deal? And what could be its implications?

Over the past few months, on several occasions, high level government functionaries in the department of commerce have explicitly stated that the trade deal would be broadly along the lines of what was agreed by the two sides on 6 February this year. In addition, it could include a legal text giving India a tariff edge of 2-3 percentage points over its compet...