US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor has expressed confidence that India and the United States are moving closer to concluding a bilateral trade agreement, saying both sides are working through the final language of the pact and that it could be completed "over the next few weeks, or over the next few months."
In an exclusive interview with IANS at the White House, Gor reflected on his first six months in India and outlined his assessment of the evolving India-US partnership, covering trade, investment, defence, energy, immigration and people-to-people ties.
Speaking about the proposed trade agreement, Gor said negotiations have reached an advanced stage following recent discussions in New Delhi.
"I was in those meetings 48 hours ago with Ambassador Greer (United States Trade Representative Ambassador Jamieson Greer) in Delhi and we met with Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, who’s a great friend of mine. We had a very productive meeting."
He added that only a limited number of issues remain unresolved.
"There's a handful of issues that remain. A lot of it now is on the language that ultimately both sides will sign."
Expressing optimism, Gor said, "We're confident that over the next few weeks, or over the next few months, it will get done."
Putting the negotiations in perspective, he noted: "We've been working on this deal for a year and a half. The European Union deal, which is still not done, is 20 years. Everybody says, 'Why is this taking so long?' We're on an incredible trajectory of getting it done."
Without revealing details of the proposed agreement, he added: "Both sides will be happy."
Gor said President Donald Trump remains eager to visit India following Prime Minister Narendra Modi's invitation.
"I don't have exact dates yet, but I just left the President; I was with him for several hours in the Oval Office."
Recalling the conversation, he said: "One of the things the President asked about is, when am I coming? So, he's very keen to come. The Prime Minister invited him."
While declining to provide a timeline, Gor said India remains "high on the list" of destinations for the US President despite a busy domestic political calendar.
Reflecting on his first six months as ambassador, Gor described his experience as "extraordinary" and said his travels had reinforced his belief in India's economic potential.
"I've gotten to travel all over the beautiful country and have met some incredible people all over the place."
He said opportunities for bilateral cooperation exist across multiple sectors.
"You can look at any sector and the United States and India can work together and take it to the next level. Whether that's something in the pharmaceutical industry, whether that's IT, whether that's defence cooperation, you name it."
Among the places he visited, Gor highlighted Hyderabad, Chennai, Jaipur and Rajasthan, while praising India's diversity.
"What I love about India is every hundred kilometres, you have an incredibly different area."
Gor pointed to growing commercial engagement between the two countries, highlighting recent investments and expanding business ties.
He noted that companies including Amazon, Microsoft and Google continue expanding their presence in India, while Indian firms are increasing investments in the United States.
According to Gor, the US Embassy in India helped facilitate more than $20 billion in new investments over the past year.
"All the embassies around the world compete to bring investment back into the United States. We were very proud that our embassy in India was number one."
"We announced over 20 billion in one year of new investments that the embassy was involved in."
Addressing concerns over H-1B visas and immigration, Gor said recent policy changes were part of a broader overhaul of the US immigration system rather than measures specifically directed at India.
"This is not targeted at India."
He said the Trump administration wanted to strengthen border management and better understand who was entering the United States.
"None of it is targeted at India necessarily."
Despite the policy changes, Gor emphasised that people-to-people exchanges remain robust.
"Our Embassy is one of the busiest embassies in the world as it relates to visas."
He also highlighted the depth of bilateral engagement, noting that India exports more to the United States than any other country and conducts more defence exercises with the US than any other nation.
On energy cooperation, Gor welcomed increasing energy supplies from the United States to India, saying diversification benefits all countries.
"I think we've already seen an incredible increase in energy coming from the United States."
He added that recent developments involving the Strait of Hormuz underscored the importance of multiple energy sources.
"You should not have all your energy supplies coming from one place."
Looking ahead, Gor said the India-US partnership continues to offer significant opportunities across technology, artificial intelligence, defence, trade and advanced manufacturing.
He said trust between the two governments remains central to the relationship.
"The United States trusts India; President Trump trusts Prime Minister Modi."
Summing up his first six months in office, Gor said his focus remains on delivering tangible outcomes.
"I'm results-driven, we wanted to get results, move the ball forward, whether it's Pax Silica, finalising the trade deal, increasing defence cooperation."
"I look forward to being in India back next week."
