Who Is Sergio Gor? The US Ambassador and Trump’s ‘Trusted Voice’ Behind the India–US Trade Deal

On Monday, US President Donald Trump announced that the tariffs on India have been reduced to 18% and that Washington has sealed the trade deal with New Delhi. In August, the US imposed sweeping 50% tariffs on India, including a 25% punitive tariff owing to its purchase of Russian energy. With the rollback of the punitive tariff and the total tariff slashed to 18%, India has also agreed to stop buying Russian oil by diversifying its oil import basket with US and potential Venezuelan crude. After nine long months, divergent economic interests and several rounds of talks, the India-US trade deal materialised.

US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor is now getting the limelight as the key architect behind the sudden breakthrough between Washington and New Delhi. Just over a month into office, Gor has delivered a long-awaited breakthrough, with Washington and New Delhi sealing a stalled trade deal after months of negotiations.

Speaking to CNN-News18 soon after the announcement, Gor underscored that personal diplomacy between Trump and Modi lay at the heart of the agreement. “The two leaders have a great personal relationship, and that is something that carried this deal forward,” Gor said. “The potential between India and the United States is limitless, and I am thrilled that India is getting this 18 per cent, which is a massive drop from the previous number. We have incredible deals ahead. The best is yet to come.”

Within hours of the India-US trade deal being announced, analysts and diplomats lauded Gor for the acceleration of trade negotiations. Journalist Sheela Bhatt quoted a Washington-based source saying that Gor “fast-forwarded many things” and “conveyed correctly India’s thinking to Donald Trump,” a Moneycontrol report said.

For New Delhi, oil trade remained at the heart of the negotiations and the tensions that unfolded with Washington and other Western allies. India emerged as the second-largest buyer of Russian oil after the Kremlin’s invasion of Kyiv and has drawn frequent criticism from the West, which alleged that India’s purchases were fuelling the ongoing war.

According to foreign policy analyst Michael Kugelman, the pace of engagement changed dramatically since Gor took office. On January 14, Gor presented his credentials to President Droupadi Murmu and formally became the 27th US Ambassador to India. Moneycontrol quoted former diplomat Sadanand Dhume, who noted that the scale of the India-US trade deal was a clear win for New Delhi. “Negotiating an end to punitive US tariffs, and ending up with a better rate than competitors such as Vietnam and Bangladesh, is a major diplomatic and economic win for the Modi government,” Dhume wrote, adding that it marked “a great start” to Gor’s tenure in India.

Gor is known to be a key influential figure owing to his unusually close relationship with Trump. Before being appointed US Ambassador to India, Gor served as Director of the White House Presidential Personnel Office, which made him one of the most powerful gatekeepers in the Trump administration. Trump himself has described Gor as “someone I fully trust to deliver on my agenda,” a rare instance of public endorsement.

Gor’s appointment as US Ambassador to India and Special Envoy for South and Central Asia was announced in August 2025 and confirmed by the Senate in October. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio supported Trump’s choice to pick Gor and said that he would be an “excellent representative of America in one of the most important relationships our nation has in the world.” With the trade deal now sealed, Gor lives up to expectations, and his reputation as Trump’s ‘trusted voice’ has amplified.

Tariffs Over Tariffs and Power Play: What Delayed the Deal

The nine-month road to the India–US trade deal was anything but smooth, marked by delays, deadlocks and repeated resets.

Washington announced a 25% reciprocal tariff on Indian goods in April, accompanied by a 90-day pause to allow room for negotiations. Trade talks between New Delhi and Washington gathered pace around the same time, with discussions intensifying in April 2025 when US Vice President JD Vance visited India and finalised the terms of reference. At the time, India signalled that a trade deal could be wrapped up by early July.

Momentum continued into May, when Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and trade representative Rajesh Agarwal travelled to Washington to advance negotiations. By June, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said a deal would be finalised. However, talks soon ran into trouble after Prime Minister Narendra Modi declined President Donald Trump’s invitation to visit Washington, leading to a pause in momentum.

By July, trade negotiations resumed, with Goyal stressing that “national interest” would remain supreme in the talks. Indian officials also maintained that India would not open its agriculture and dairy sectors under any trade deal.

Around the same period, the US raised total tariffs on India to 50% by imposing an additional punitive levy linked to New Delhi’s purchase of Russian oil.

Over the following months, India gradually curtailed its oil imports from Russia and diversified its supply chain, with a strategic shift towards West Asia and the Americas. Even so, New Delhi continued to defend its Russian crude purchases amid growing political backlash from the West. Ministries, diplomats and trade representatives repeatedly denied allegations that India’s imports were fuelling the war in Ukraine, citing national interest and energy security as guiding principles.

By November, negotiations continued, though with limited concrete progress. After a brief lull in communication, Prime Minister Modi confirmed a “warm and engaging” phone call with Trump in December, during which the two leaders discussed evolving geopolitical conditions.

Fast forward to 2026: New Delhi welcomed US Ambassador Sergio Gor, and in a little over a month, India and the US struck the long-awaited trade deal. Details of the agreement are still awaited, with Gor describing it as “a complex deal.”