Currently visiting the Middle East, US President Donald Trump said during a meeting in Qatar that India had offered to drop all tariffs on US goods.
Claiming that the Indian government has “offered us a deal where basically they are willing to literally charge us no tariff”, he gave no further details on the 'offer'.
External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar said in response to Trump's claims that nothing was decided as yet on the India-US trade deal and that negotiations were still underway. "Between India and the US, trade talks have been going on. These are complicated negotiations. Nothing is decided till everything is," he said while speaking to reporters. "Any trade deal has to be mutually beneficial; it has to work for both countries. That would be our expectation from the trade deal. Until that is done, any judgment on it would be premature."
Trump’s statement may stir India’s emotions further after the former’s announcement of a ceasefire between India and Pakistan following escalation of military hostilities early May. The US President’s social media posts also hinted at the use of trade as a lever to secure truce.
India is in the middle of a trade negotiation with the US, and talks are set to resume later this month. While the first tranche of the proposed Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) may be finalised by September or October, India is said to be aiming to firm up talks in the next 45 days for a scaled-down version.
Meanwhile, the US and China, which had been at loggerheads after putting high tariffs and counter-tariffs on each other’s goods since the start of Trump’s second term as US President, have now massively scaled down the tariffs during talks in Geneva, a move that India views uncomfortably since it puts China back as trade competitor.
The US President’s visit to Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates is part of his four-day international tour – his first during his second term as President. The “dealmaker in chief”, as the White House describes him, has made major business deal announcements throughout his tour. The US and Qatar have inked deals worth at least $1.2 trillion, including a major transaction worth $96bn which would see Qatar Airways buy 210 aircraft from the US company Boeing, a move that has been criticised by the Democrats in the US.
Other agreements include purchases of drone and anti-drone technology from US defence companies like Raytheon and investments in the US energy sector.
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