India, Feb. 3 -- Hours after the announcement of the India-US trade deal, HT sat down with Jacob Helberg, US Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy and Environment, who said the agreement creates a lot of positive momentum. Helberg, in first comments by a top Trump administration official after the deal, said it will free up a lot of political oxygen that can be channeled towards specific, tactical projects. He also spoke about his plans for a visit to India for the AI Impact Summit this month and the newly announced Pax Silica initiative, which India has been invited to join.

The US-India trade deal has just been announced. How will this impact bilateral ties?

Discussions between the US and India had been ongoing on criti...