U. S. and India eye $500 billion trade goal

The U. S. and India are setting ambitious trade goals. They aim to boost their trade to $500 billion by 2030. This is more than double their current trade volume. The leaders of both countries, President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, met in Washington. They discussed ways to make this happen. Modi mentioned that their teams would work on a trade agreement soon. This agreement would benefit both countries. Trump also talked about reducing trade differences. He said he would start talks on this issue. This comes after he signed a memo about "reciprocal tariffs. " These tariffs would match the rates that other countries, like India, charge.India has higher tariffs than the U. S. India's average tariff is 17%, while the U. S. charges 3. 3%. The U. S. wants to address its trade deficit with India. One way to do this is by selling more oil and gas to India. The U. S. and India traded $129 billion in goods in 2024. India had a surplus of $45. 7 billion with the U. S. last year. The U. S. is also planning to sell more military equipment to India. This includes advanced F-35 fighter jets. India is the world's biggest defense equipment importer. Trump said this is to counter "radical Islamic terrorism. " Modi also mentioned that both countries would work together on technology. This includes artificial intelligence and semiconductors. They also want to create strong supply chains for strategic minerals. The goal of $500 billion in trade might be possible. Raghuram Rajan, a finance professor at University of Chicago, thinks so. He was also the former governor of the Reserve Bank of India. He talked about this on CNBC's "Squawk Box Asia. " He suggested that India could buy more LNG from the U. S. This would help India shift away from Russia. Russia is currently India's main defense supplier. This shift could help both countries reach their trade goal.