US trade representative Jamieson Greer on Monday confirmed that Washington had finalised the terms of reference to prepare a road map for the negotiations on reciprocal trade with India.

The confirmation came six days after a senior Indian official announced that India and the US had signed the terms of reference for the initial phase of a bilateral trade agreement.

Greer’s confirmation coincided with the four-day visit of J.D. Vance to India and came shortly after the US Vice-President met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi.

Addressing an India-US business meet in Jaipur on Tuesday, Vance dwelt on what transpired at the meeting and said that “Prime Minister Modi and I made very good progress on all these points”, referring to the negotiations to get a trade agreement built on shared priorities such as creating jobs, building durable supply chains and achieving prosperity for workers.

“We are especially excited to formally announce that America and India have officially finalised the terms of reference for the trade negotiations. I think this is a vital step towards realising President Trump’s and Prime Minister Modi’s vision because it sets a road map towards a final deal between our nations. I believe there is much that America and India can accomplish together,” Vance said, advocating more American access to Indian markets.

China remained the elephant in the room at the Jaipur meet with Vance, making oblique references to the manufacturing giant, warning of dire consequences if India and the US fail to keep pace with the countries which are looking to scale up their manufacturing capacities.

“The competition extends well beyond cheap consumer goods and into munitions, energy, infrastructure and all sorts of other cutting-edge technologies…. I believe that if our nations fail to keep pace, the consequences for the Indo-Pacific and for the entire world will be quite dire.”

Stating that critics attacking Trump for starting a trade war have got it all wrong, Vance said the President was seeking to rebalance global trade so that America, with friends like India, could “build a future worth having for all of our people together”.

Advocating an energy partnership between New Delhi and Washington, Vance said: “We think that energy coproduction will help beat unfair competitors in other foreign markets. India, we believe, can go a long way to enhance energy ties between our nations. One suggestion I have is maybe consider dropping some of the non-tariff barriers for American access to the Indian market.”

Touching upon the bilateral relationship in the past, the Vice-President took a swipe at those in power in the US earlier: “We are not here to preach that you do things in one particular way. Too often in the past, Washington approached Prime Minister Modi with an attitude of preachiness or even one of condescension. Prior administrations saw India as a source of low-cost labour on the one hand, even as they criticised the Prime Minister’s government, arguably the most popular in the democratic world.”

Modi has dealt with three US Presidents in his 11 years in office — Barack Obama, Trump in his first term and Joe Biden. Barring the occasional general remark on India moving away from its constitutional path on his watch, none of the three previous administrations Modi has dealt with have criticised him openly. To the contrary, all three administrations were invested in the bilateral relationship that enjoys bipartisan support on Capitol Hill.