By Hadriana Lowenkron and Courtney Subramanian

President Donald Trump said the US and India are close to finalizing a trade deal after more than a year of negotiations. 

“They want to make a deal. We’re going to make a deal. Pretty close, yeah,” Trump said Tuesday when asked by reporters at the White House about the prospects for an agreement. 

The president said it “could be a much different kind of deal,” without elaborating. 

Both US and Indian officials have recently made optimistic comments about the chances of an agreement, which would break a long-running stalemate over trade between Washington and New Delhi.

US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor said last week at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in New Delhi that the “the big items are done” and that the two countries are very close to “landing it.”

That followed remarks by Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar in which he said he was encouraged by progress in trade talks and that both sides were “heading toward a landing point.” 

Trump late Friday waived tariffs of as much as 100% on buyers of Russian oil and gas — duties that would have hit Indian products and complicated trade negotiations.