New Delhi: Amid Trump's tariff war, Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said that hopes are on to ‘positively conclude’ the first part of a trade pact with the United States by this autumn. “The long and short of engaging with the US is not just for this reciprocal tariff related matter, but in the interest of our largest trading partner with whom we need to have an agreement,” Sitharaman said in an address to the Indian diaspora in San Francisco.As per a government statement, Sitharaman is on a five-day tour to the United States, where she will join the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, and the meeting of G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank governors. The finance minister is also scheduled to meet the US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and is expected to speak to officials at the United States Trade Representative's office as well.The finance minister’s visit comes in a week of multiple engagements between the two countries that will focus on trade, as the Union government wants to avoid steep US tariffs with an early trade deal and boost ties with the Donald Trump administration. However, officials in New Delhi are also hoping to firm up an agreement with Washington within the 90-day pause on tariff increases announced by Trump on April 9 for major trading partners, including India.India is reportedly open to cutting tariffs on more than half of its imports from the US, which was worth a total $41.8 billion in 2024, as part of a trade deal. Confirming the deal, Sitharaman has also said India and the US are actively engaged in high-level trade talks. “The goal is to have the first phase of an agreement by fall. The bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Modi and the US Vice President (who is presently in India) will focus on tariffs and a trade pact,” she said. India needs to generate 8 mn jobs per year for next 10-12 yrsNew York: India has to generate 8 million jobs per year at least for the next 10-12 years and raise the share of manufacturing in GDP as it strives to achieve the vision of becoming a developed country by 2047, chief economic advisor V Anantha Nageswaran said.“We have a vision to achieve a developed India by 2047. The biggest challenge, apart from India's size, is that the external environment is not going to be as benign for the next 10-20 years as one might have had in the last 30 years, starting from 1990 or so,” Nageswaran said here Saturday.“But within this context - that's a given, you can't choose your external environment beyond a point - we have to generate 8 million jobs per year at least for the next 10 to 12 years...And raise the manufacturing share of GDP, in the context of China having achieved such a tremendous manufacturing dominance, especially post-COVID,” he said, while addressing the Columbia India Summit 2025.