MC EXCLUSIVE Davos 2026: India-US engagement strong, industry sentiment positive after President Trump's remarks, says Ashwini Vaishnaw

Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw at World Economic Forum in Davos on January 22

India's engagement with the United States remains "very consistent", Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said at the World Economic Forum in Davos on January 22, even as uncertainty persisted around the timing of a bilateral trade deal.

Vaishnaw was responding to US President Donald Trump's comment to Moneycontrol on January 21, in which he said that he has "a lot of respect" for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and expressed confidence that the two countries would arrive at "a good deal".

Speaking to Moneycontrol on the sidelines of WEF, Vaishnaw said, "Our engagement with the US is very consistent. Every point which needs to be discussed is being discussed under the leadership of our Cabinet Minister Piyush Goyal, the External Affairs Minister and the Finance Minister."

Vaishnaw is the minister for Electronics and Information Technology, Railways and Information & Broadcasting.

Although he said that there is "very good understanding between the two countries", he added that it would be "improper" for him to speculate on when a deal might be concluded.

However, the minister said Trump's remarks have sent a positive signal, particularly to the global industry gathered at Davos.

"Definitely. When we look at the response from the industry side, practically every company, every group which has met us during this World Economic Forum, everybody is very positive, very optimistic about relations with India," he said.

According to Vaishnaw, this optimism is visible across sectors, especially semiconductors and artificial intelligence.

"The entire semiconductor industry wants to have a very big presence in India. The AI — all the big players of the AI world — they want to have a very significant presence in India," he said.

#MCMegaExclusive | 🚨🚨 “Gonna Have a Good Deal”: Trump Tells Moneycontrol's @chandrarsrikant on India-US Trade Talks at Davos

‘I have great respect for your Prime Minister. He’s a fantastic man and a friend of mine… We are going to have a good deal,’ Trump says.#IndiaUS… pic.twitter.com/7kzFZlEyFP — Moneycontrol (@moneycontrolcom) January 21, 2026