US COMMERCE SECRETARY Howard Lutnick has said a trade deal between India and the us did not happen because prime minister Narendra Modi did not call US president Donald Trump at a key moment.
In an interview with the All-In Podcast on Thursday (8), Lutnick explained why talks with India failed to move forward while deals with other countries were completed.
“I’ll tell you a story about India. I did the first deal with the UK, and we told them they had two Fridays to get it done. The train was leaving the station,” he said. “If someone else is first, they’re first. President Trump does deals like a staircase.”
“The first step gets the best deal. You can’t get the best deal after the first country,” Lutnick added. He said Trump works this way “because it pushes people to come to the table”.
After the UK deal, Lutnick said Trump publicly named India as a possible next partner. “We were talking with India, and we told them, ‘you have three Fridays’,” he said.
Lutnick said he handled negotiations but made clear that Trump finalised deals. “I said, ‘you have to have Modi call the president’. They were uncomfortable doing it, so Modi didn’t call,” he said.
After the deadline passed, the US announced trade deals with Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam. Lutnick said Washington had expected India to finish talks earlier.
He said India later returned to the table, but by then the terms had changed. “They called back weeks later and said they were ready. I said the train left three weeks ago,” he said.
“As other countries kept doing deals, India moved further back in the line,” Lutnick added.
He said he had wanted the India deal to fall between the UK and Vietnam agreements, but that window had passed. “They say, ‘but you agreed’. And I say, ‘then, not now’,” he said.
Lutnick’s comments came days after Trump said he was unhappy with India’s purchase of Russian oil and warned that tariffs on Indian goods could be raised “very quickly”.
The remarks came while the two countries were negotiating a bilateral trade agreement. Six rounds of talks have been held so far. The proposed deal includes steps to address 50 per cent tariffs on Indian goods entering the US.
(PTI)
