Punjab, Oct. 20 -- Marco Rubio said after talks in Mumbai that India and the United States are "about as close as you can be" to a trade deal without having executed it, with "a small number of items" left. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said days earlier that the talks had "plateaued".
Both statements, side by side
That gap is the most informative thing about this visit. "A small number of items" and "plateaued" can describe the same negotiation - a few issues left, none of them moving - which is exactly what a deal looks like when the remaining items are the hard ones.
The history explains why. Washington imposed tariffs of up to 50 per cent on most Indian goods in August 2025 after talks collapsed. A framework agreed in Febru...