New York/IBNS: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said India and the United States are "hopefully" beyond halfway of the negotiation for the long-awaited bilateral trade deal.

Speaking to Newsweek, Jaishankar said, "We are in the middle, hopefully more than the middle, of a very intricate trade negotiation…we do think today that in trade, there will have to be some give and take.

"Just as people in the US have an opinion about India, Indians too have an opinion about the US. There will be some sort of middle ground, we just have to wait and watch the space for the next few days."

When asked whether the trade deal is set to be signed soon, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, "... I actually just spoke to the Secretary of Commerce about it. He was in the Oval Office with the President, they are finalising these agreements..."

"India remains a very strategic ally in the Asia Pacific. The President has a very good relationship with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and he will continue to have that," she added.

US President Donald Trump has already said he doesn't intend to extend the 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs beyond July 9.

Meanwhile, the Indian trade delegation has extended its stay in Washington to finalise the bilateral trade deal.

Though Trump highly praises Modi as a "gentleman" and a "tough negotiator", the White House has been critical of India's tariffs imposed on Washington's exports.

While announcing reciprocal tariffs of 26 percent on India's exports months ago, Trump had said, "India (is) very, very tough. Their Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) just left (US recently)... he is a great friend of mine, but I said to him that 'you're a friend of mine, but you've not been treating us right."

The India-US trade deal, if it happens, is set to be inked in the backdrop of the little strained ties over the Operation Sindoor ceasefire, which Trump claimed to have brokered but India denied the assertion.

Speaking to reporters at the NATO Summit at The Hague, Netherlands last month, Trump said he ended the conflict "with a series of phone calls on trade".

But India's Foreign Secretary Vikram Misry said Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a telephonic conversation with Trump and cleared the South Asian country will not allow any third-party mediation to resolve the issue of Pakistan's illegal occupation of parts of Jammu and Kashmir.

Speaking on the conversation between the two leaders, Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said: "PM Modi stressed that India never accepted mediation nor does it accept it now, nor will it ever do that. On this issue, there is full political unanimity."

Trump had often mentioned the role he played in mediating between India and Pakistan to reach a ceasefire last month. India has continuously rejected the claim.