Jaishankar says any judgment on India, US trade deal "premature"
This story was originally published at 17:57 IST on 15 May 2025
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NEW DELHI – External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar Thursday termed any judgment on the India-US trade deal "premature" after President Donald Trump remarked that New Delhi was willing to charge "no tariff" on US goods. Jaishankar said India wants a mutually beneficial trade deal with the US, which will work for both countries.
"Between India and the US, trade talks have been going on. These are complicated negotiations. Nothing is decided till everything is," Jaishankar told reporters in New Delhi. "Any trade deal has to be mutually beneficial. Any trade deal has to work for both countries. I think that would be our expectation from the trade deal. Until that is done, I think, any judgment on it would be premature."
Earlier in the day, Trump remarked that India has offered a deal where "basically they're (India) willing to literally charge us no tariff." The US president was addressing a business event in Doha in Qatar. "We go from the highest tariff, you couldn't do business in India; we're not even in the top 30 in India because the tariff is so high... They were the highest, and now they're saying no tariff," Trump had said.
During Prime Minister Narendra Modi's US visit in February, the two countries had agreed to negotiate a multi-sectoral Bilateral Trade Agreement. In April, the US president announced reciprocal tariffs on several countries, including India. The US imposed a 26% duty on goods imported from India. The US president said the tariffs were being imposed to address the concerns of the high trade deficit the US has with other countries. Trump later paused the reciprocal tariffs for 90 days, providing a window to reach a deal.
India has already reduced import duties on Harley-Davidson motorcycles as well as bourbon whiskey. Additionally, it has eliminated tax on digital services, commonly referred to as ‘Google Tax,' which impacted US tech companies.
The US is India's top export market with a share of 17% in total outbound shipments. In 2023-24 (Apr-Mar), India exported goods worth $77.52 billion to the US and had a trade surplus of $35.32 billion. End
US$1 = INR 85.55
Reported by Kuldeep Singh
Edited by Saji George Titus
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