"Fake News Alert": US Envoy Trashes Report India Rejected Quick Trade Deal

The US Ambassador to India, Sergio Gor, on Monday joined Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal in refuting a report claiming New Delhi had rejected a "quick trade agreement" with Washington, D.C, and was holding out for a better deal.

Hours after the minister dismissed the news report as "completely false, baseless and misleading", the envoy clarified that "no one has rejected anything" and both sides had been having constructive meetings to strike the trade deal.

He also described the report as "fake news".

"Fake news alert! No one has rejected anything. Both sides had very constructive meetings and reaffirmed their commitment to finalising a trade deal. We continue to stay actively engaged. Reuters - you can do better!" he wrote on X, replying to the news alert.

Fake news alert! No one has rejected anything. Both sides had very constructive meetings and reaffirmed their commitment to finalizing a trade deal. We continue to stay actively engaged.
Reuters - you can do better! https://t.co/7LARDhhtCg

— Ambassador Sergio Gor (@USAmbIndia) July 13, 2026

Goyal had also dismissed the report as false.

"This news is completely false, baseless and misleading. I had fantastic meetings with USTR Jamieson Greer, the US trade rep, when he visited Delhi in June. Both sides reaffirmed their commitment to an agreement that is balanced, commercially meaningful, and delivers tangible benefits for businesses, farmers, workers, and consumers in both countries. Our teams remain fully engaged in achieving this objective," he wrote on X.

US-India Trade Deal In Final Stages

Last month, Gor said that the US-India trade deal was in its final stages.

"We are in the final steps of this deal. Most of this deal is complete. There are a few items that remain on both sides. It's in the last 1 per cent of that deal," he had said, addressing the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum Leadership Summit.

Also read: "Completely False": Piyush Goyal On Report India Rejected Quick US Trade Deal

"People ask, why is this taking so long? We've been at this for a year and a half. To put it into perspective, we've been trading for 20 years. So no matter what, once we beat the European deal, I think we're in good shape. But I'm determined to bring this to a close," he was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

Earlier this month, Goyal said that the India-US trade agreement was a "very fair and equitable" deal and both sides were working out the remaining 1 per cent of the deal.

Also read: Piyush Goyal Recalls "Nightmare" His Team Faced During US-India Trade Talks

"It's a very fair, very equitable [deal]. It's a deal that gives us preferential access to the United States market, and free trade agreements are all about preferential access... For us, the primary factor in the free trade deal is to get a preference over all our competitors, our neighbours, the Southeast Asian countries, and that's the lens through which every country in the world has looked at it," he said.