US President Donald Trump Tuesday said the US will bring down tariffs on India, and that Washington is “pretty close” to reaching a “fair trade deal” with New Delhi. India currently faces 50 per cent tariffs, the highest on any country globally, primarily due to the ‘penalty’ duty of 25 per cent for purchasing Russian oil.

“Right now, the tariffs are very high on India because of the Russian oil, and they [India] have stopped doing the Russian oil… It’s being reduced very substantially. Yeah, we will bring the tariffs down at some point,” Trump said during a White House press briefing.

In New Delhi , government officials said they do not see the need for further negotiations, and that the two countries have been drafting the legal text of the deal since October.

“Talks are progressing

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