NEW DELHI -- India and the U.S. are looking to finalize a trade deal they have been negotiating since early last year, with President Donald Trump saying they are "pretty close" to it, even as New Delhi is aiming to secure a "competitive advantage" over its peers such as Bangladesh and Vietnam in the American market.

"They want to make a deal. We're going to make a deal. Pretty close, yeah," Trump told reporters on Tuesday in response to a question on the proposed India-U.S. trade pact, adding that it would be "a much different kind of deal than we've done [earlier]." Trump did not elaborate on how soon Washington and New Delhi could reach a deal and how the possible deal could be unique, but his comment resonates with recent remarks made by Indian officials.

The first tranche of the trade agreement with the U.S. "has been finalized," India's Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said at an event in New Delhi last week. "It's going through the final contours, the legal drafting, and we hope to be able to finalize that soon and operationalize that once we get comparable advantage or competitive advantage over our peer countries."

India's Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal separately told reporters last week, "A trade deal has a very important component that it gives not only market access ... [but it also] gives preferential market access." On what "comparative advantage" and "preferential market access" mean, observers are looking for hints in U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio's India visit that kicked off on Tuesday.

Unlike the usual route for foreign delegations that include New Delhi, Rubio limited his itinerary to India's commercial capital, Mumbai, and the world's largest oil-refining complex, in Jamnagar in the western state of Gujarat.

"Rubio is emphasizing pragmatic cooperation over diplomatic friction," Brahma Chellaney, a prominent Indian geostrategist, posted on X on Tuesday. "With U.S.-India political ties under pressure, Rubio's visit seeks to shift the focus to energy security, corporate partnerships and resolving trade standoffs."

In February this year, New Delhi and Washington finalized a framework for an interim trade deal that included removal of the 25% penalty and bringing down the tariffs on New Delhi to 18%. This deal was set to be signed in March, but before this could happen the U.S. Supreme Court on Feb. 20 struck down Trump's tariffs, leaving Washington's 18% tariff offer to India ineffective, and leading to further negotiations in which New Delhi sought preferential market access for its exporters vis-a-vis competitors from countries like Bangladesh and Vietnam.

India's merchandise exports to the U.S. stood at $50.81 billion in April-September this year, up 11.1% from $45.73 billion in the same period last year, Commerce and Industry Ministry data show. The U.S. remained India's top export destination in the first six months of the current financial year, followed by the United Arab Emirates and China.

Meanwhile, prospects for an early conclusion of the bilateral trade deal appeared to brighten after Trump on Oct. 16 issued a Russia sanctions waiver, almost a month afterg into law a new U.S. measure -- the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act (SRIA) of 2026 -- that threatened up to 100% tariffs on major buyers of Moscow's energy, including India and China.

However, Ajay Srivastava, founder of the Global Trade Research Initiative think tank, said the waiver buys India time but offers no lasting certainty.

Russia's share of Indian oil imports fell from 51% in July to 44% in August as India bought more from the U.S., despite higher prices, and from the UAE, he noted. "Yet SRIA remains law, leaving Washington free to revive the tariff threat to extract concessions in bilateral trade talks," Srivastava said in a note he shared with Nikkei Asia.

"India should protect its energy security, buy oil on commercial terms and prepare for renewed U.S. pressure. Temporary tariff relief is no basis for permanent trade concessions."