India approaching trade deals with urgency: EAM Jaishankar

NEW DELHI: India is geared up for a very high degree of urgency in finalising trade deals with the US and others, said EAM S Jaishankar Friday, as he stressed how the US under Donald Trump has fundamentally changed its approach to dealing with the world and the consequences this will have across all domains.

India is negotiating a bilateral trade agreement (BTA) with the US to settle the contentious tariff issue. Speaking at Global Technology Summit, the minister said Trump administration had lost no time in responding to the proposal for a trade pact with India.

Jaishankar spoke about the looming tariff war between US and China, and need for India to protect its own interests. "Nothing is just about trade anymore. Nothing is purely business. Everything has become personal," he said. "This time, we are certainly geared up for high degree of urgency. I mean, we see a window here. Our trade teams are charged up," he said, adding Indian negotiators are on top of their game and very ambitious about what they want to achieve.

"We are trying to, in each case, get the other side to speed it up. This was normally a complaint which was made about us in the past, that we were the guys slowing it down," he said, adding it's the other way around now, as India communicates urgency to the US,UK and EU for trade deals.