Ahead of India-US bilateral trade pact talks, Jaishankar says any judgment is premature
U.S. President Donald Trump attends a press conference in the Roosevelt Room at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 12, 2025. | Photo Credit: REUTERS/Nathan Howard
US President Donald Trump’s aggressive posturing on tariffs and assertion that New Delhi had agreed to trade deal charging no tariffs on American products was strongly countered by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday.
In a nuanced but strongly-worded statement, the Foreign Minister said: “Between India and the US, trade talks have been going on, negotiations have been going on. The team is going at this point. These are complicated negotiations. Nothing is decided till everything is. Any trade deal has to be mutually beneficial, any trade deal 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 to Cook
Trump said at an event in Doha: “I had a little problem with Tim Cook (CEO of Apple Inc) yesterday. I said to him, ‘My friend, I am treating you very good. You are coming up with $500 billion, but now I hear you are building all over India. I don’t want you building in India. You can build in India, if you want to take care of India because India is one of the highest tariff nations in the world, so it is very hard to sell in India. They (India) have offered us a deal where basically they have agreed to charge us literally no tariffs”.
However, sources said Trump’s tough posturing mounts pressure on Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, who is setting off for Washington this weekend for negotiations on the India-US bilateral trade agreement (BTA).
Goyal to visit US
Goyal, who will meet both US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to advance the talks on the BTA during his visit on May 17-20, will seek to reach a deal with the US before July 8, whether full or partial, in order to avoid reciprocal tariffs.
“Commerce Minister Goyal and the negotiating team would have to step carefully in the face of such pressure from the US President in order to protect interests of Indian industry and agriculture. All sensitive sectors, including agriculture, dairy and the MSMEs, have to be protected,” the source said.
On April 2, US President Donald Trump announced reciprocal tariffs on most countries that have trade surpluses with the US, including India which got slapped with 26 per cent levies. But he paused them for 90 days (except a baseline tariff of 10 per cent that continues to be levied) to give time for trade deals.
The two sides have agreed to deliver the first tranche of the BTA by Fall of 2025 but attempts are on to conclude it as soon as possible, Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal said.
“I had a little problem with Tim Cook (CEO of Apple Inc)…I said to him, ‘My friend, I am treating you very good. You are coming up with $500 billion, but now I hear you are building all over India. I don’t want you building in India.” Donald TrumpUS President
Published on May 15, 2025
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