India–US trade talks have 'reached a plateau', Sitharaman says in Washington

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in Washington on Monday that India and the US have hit a plateau in their trade-deal negotiations, warning that giving or taking anything more beyond it would be ‘very, very difficult’ for both sides.

Sitharaman's remarks cool expectations of a quick breakthrough, signalling that both governments have arrived at the limits of what they can currently offer each other. A plateau, she suggested, leaves little room for movement without political costs neither side wants to pay.

The talks are unfolding against a tense backdrop: India continues to buy discounted Russian crude despite Washington's pressure, and the US has kept tariff threats on the table as leverage. Those irritants have repeatedly intruded on the economic negotiation.

With the plateau admission now on the record, attention shifts to whether either side is willing to reopen settled ground — or whether the deal drifts while both capitals wait for a better political moment.