New Delhi, Sept. 12 -- Sergio Gor, US President Donald Trump's nominee to be ambassador to India, said on Thursday that Washington and New Delhi are 'not that far apart' on tariffs. Gor was speaking at a hearing in which he and Trump's fellow Republicans described warm bilateral ties despite recent tensions.

In an unusual move, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio appeared at the hearing to introduce Sergio Gor.

Successive US administrations have courted India as a potential counterweight to an increasingly powerful China, but Trump's trade war has severely tested the relationship.

Talks on lower tariff rates collapsed after India, the world's fifth-largest economy, resisted opening its vast agricultural and dairy sectors. Bilateral trade...