No trade talks till tariff issue resolved: Trump

There was suspense over the fate of the India-US trade negotiations after American President Donald Trump said that there would be no talks till the tariff issue is resolved. "No, not until we get it resolved," Trump said on Thursday while responding to a query on whether he expected more trade negotiations with India.

A team of US negotiators is scheduled to reach Delhi on Aug 24 to hold talks in what, by all indications, is going to be a tough salvage job. But India was not ready to slam the door shut on a possible rapprochement yet. On Friday evening, commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal listed the US among countries with which India was negotiating trade treaties. He, however, did not elaborate on the talks. tnn

MoD denies report of Rajnath cancelling US trip

But the temperature has soared since last week after US President Donald Trump announced a 25% tariff on India and then doubled it as "penalty" for India's arms and oil imports from Russia, although his administration has been cosying up to Moscow and talks with President Vladimir Putin are likely over the next few weeks. India has also hit back at the US, with PM Modi asserting that there will be no compromise on the interests of farmers, fisherfolk and dairy farmers.

Concessions for agriculture and dairy were among key items on which India had drawn the red line during five rounds of discussions with the US.

With tariff tensions continuing to rise, speculation, triggered by a news agency that defence minister Rajnath Singh had cancelled his US trip and some of the defence deals were being reassessed, gained virality. It furiously did the rounds until the ministry of defence stepped in with a denial.

During Trump's first presidency, too, India and the US had begun discussions for a mini trade deal, but it was abandoned midway due to serious differences over retaliatory tariffs. This time, Trump has been weaponising tariffs against countries and settling for deals which impose at least 10% additional duty on each country, while getting contracts for American companies and claiming market access for goods. While India and the US began talks in March for a trade deal by fall (Sept/Oct), Trump went ahead and announced "reciprocal tariffs" in April and sought to get countries to the negotiating table. With govt rebutting his claims that it agreed to suspend Operation Sindoor on the promise of a trade deal, Trump is seen to have brought Russian oil and defence purchases into the picture.