New Delhi: Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick’s “characterisation” of trade negotiations between India and the US is “not accurate,” the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said Friday.
”We have seen the remarks. India and the US were committed to negotiating a bilateral trade agreement as far back as 13 February last year. Since then, the two sides have held multiple rounds of negotiation to arrive at a balanced and mutually beneficial trade agreement,” MEA official spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said at a regular press briefing.
“On several occasions, we have been close to a deal. The characterisation of these discussions in the reported remarks is not accurate.”
India, he said, remains interested in a mutually beneficial trade deal between two complementary economies and looks forward to concluding it. “Incidentally, Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) and President (Donald) Trump have also spoken on phone on eight occasions during 2025, covering different aspects of our wide-ranging partnership.”
On Thursday, Lutnick asserted that there was a deal agreed to between India and the US, but it fell through after PM Modi did not call Trump because New Delhi was not comfortable about such a call.
The US Secretary of Commerce further pointed out that by the time India was ready to accept the deal, it was too late, and that Washington wanted different terms and conditions.
“What I would do is I would negotiate the contracts and set the whole deal up. But let’s be clear, it’s his deal. Yeah, okay, he’s the closer, he does the deal. So I said you got to have Modi (call). It’s all set up. You have to have Modi call the President. And they were uncomfortable doing it so Modi didn’t call,” Lutnick said on the All-In Podcast.
“India just was, you know, on the wrong side of the seesaw…It was just they couldn’t get it done when they needed to, and then they couldn’t get it done, and then they couldn’t get it done, and then they couldn’t get it done,” he added.
India in the last months of 2025 has asserted that it has made its final offer for the first tranche of the bilateral trade agreement and that no further physical round of negotiations are expected any time soon. The deal is currently pending the acceptance of Washington DC.
The US imposed 50 percent tariffs on Indian exports at the end of August last year. The US is India’s largest export destination. Between April and November 2025, Indian merchandise exports to the US stood at $50 billion, according to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
The first tranche of the trade agreement for India at least relies on tariff relief, with the reduction from the current rate of 50 percent. However, Trump “green lit” legislation in the US Congress that would authorise him to impose tariffs up to 500 percent on countries such as India, China and Brazil for its continued purchase of Russian oil.
“We are aware of the proposed bill. We are closely following the developments. Our position on the larger question of energy sourcing is well-known. In this endeavour, we are guided by the evolving dynamics of the global market and by the imperative to secure affordable energy from diverse sources to meet the energy security needs of our 1.4 billion people,” Jaiswal said on the legislation being spearheaded by Senator Lindsey Graham.
Ties between India and the US at the political level has remained tense. Trump had called Modi a “good guy” last week while on Air Force One, while mentioning that India could face higher tariffs if it does not cut down further oil purchases from Russia.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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