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US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has claimed that the deal with India has not been stopped due to any policy dispute. The reason for this is Prime Minister Narendra Modi not calling President Donald Trump directly. According to Lutnik, Trump wanted Modi to finalize the deal by talking to him himself, but when that did not happen, Trump took it on his ‘ego’.
‘The deal was ready, Modi just had to make one call’
In a podcast, Lutnik told that the trade deal with India was almost complete. India was given time of ‘three Fridays’ to finalize the talks. Lutnik said, “The whole deal was set, Trump himself wanted to close it. All Modi had to do was call the President. The Indian side was uncomfortable doing so and Modi did not call.
Deal with Vietnam and Indonesia, India left behind
The US Commerce Secretary revealed that other countries benefited from India’s delay. He said, “We thought that the deal with India would be done first, but when Modi did not call, we made trade deals with Indonesia, Philippines and Vietnam.
Giving the example of Britain, Lutnik said that Prime Minister Keir Starmer himself called Trump before the deadline and the deal was announced the very next day.
Now the old offers are not on the table, America backed out
The biggest matter of concern for India is that the conditions which were decided earlier have now ended. Lutnick clearly said, “America has now withdrawn from the trade deal that we had previously agreed to. We are no longer thinking about that old offer.”
He indicated that if talks take place now, India may face new and perhaps tough conditions.
Modi had refused to attend Trump’s 4 calls
According to reports, in July last year, Trump had called PM Modi ‘four times’, but the Prime Minister refused to talk. The Indian government feared that Trump might exaggerate the results of the talks.
Apart from this, Modi had also rejected Trump’s efforts to mediate in the India-Pakistan conflict, which angered Trump.
Battle of egos and burden of 50% tariff
Experts believe that India had to suffer the consequences of Trump’s ego being hurt. On India buying oil from Russia, Trump first increased the tariff to 25% and then to 50%. However, the ice has melted somewhat after Trump’s call on Modi’s birthday on September 17. The two leaders have also talked in Diwali and December, but the trade deal is still in limbo.
25% tariff due to buying Russian oil
America has imposed a total tariff of 50% on India. Of this, it calls 25% ‘reciprocal (tit for tat) tariffs’. Whereas 25% has been imposed due to purchase of Russian oil. America says that this is helping Russia to continue the Ukraine war. India says that this penalty is wrong and it should be removed immediately.
India’s trade deficit with America is 41.18 billion dollars
India’s trade deficit in goods with the US in 2024-25, i.e. the difference between imports and exports, was $41.18 billion. It was USD 35.32 billion in 2023-24, USD 27.7 billion in 2022-23, USD 32.85 billion in 2021-22 and USD 22.73 billion in 2020-21. America has expressed concern over the increasing trade deficit.
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