Trump says working on a very big trade deal with India, but will take time

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said the United States and India were working on a major trade deal, but he was not sure if it would be completed before the U.S. presidential election in November.

As Trump heads to India on his first official trip on Monday, negotiators have been trying for weeks to put together a limited accord giving the U.S. greater access to India’s dairy and poultry markets and lowering tariffs on other products.

But no breakthrough has yet been announced and a planned trip by United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer was canceled, underlining the difficulties the two sides face in narrowing differences ahead of Trump’s visit.

“We can have a trade deal with India, but I’m really saving the big deal for later on,” Trump told reporters on Tuesday, outside Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.

“We’re doing a very big trade deal with India. We’ll have it. I don’t know if it’ll be done before the election, but we’ll have a very big deal with India,” he said, in a transcript of remarks released by the White House.

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