Trade: India rejects Lutnick remarks that ‘deal couldn’t happen as PM Modi didn’t call Trump’
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Is it an ego clash? Or a confident India reasserting its position in a New World (Dis)Order to the chagrin of the current US President?
According to US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, the much-awaited trade deal, which could lead to a broader bilateral trade agreement (BTA) between India and America, could not happen because Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not call US President Donald Trump!
However, India, on Friday, termed his remarks as “inaccurate.”
The US had expected the deal with India to be closed before Washington did it with other countries, the media, quoting Lutnick, reported on Friday.
Speaking at All-In Podcast, Lutnick said, “I had set the whole deal up. But let’s be clear, it’s his (Trump’s) deal. He is the closer. He does it. It’s all set up; you’ve got to have Modi call the President. They (India) were uncomfortable doing it. So, Modi didn’t call.”
In fact, he said, the US had expected the India trade deal to be closed before others. “That Friday left, in the next week, we did Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, and we announced a whole bunch of deals. Because we negotiated with them and assumed that India would be done before them, and negotiated with them at a higher rate.”
“So now the problem is that the deals came out at a higher rate, and then India says we are ready. I said ready for what… The train that left the station 3 weeks ago,” he added.
Meanwhile, Trump recently backed a bipartisan bill in the US Congress that threatens to steeply raise tariffs on countries buying energy products, including oil, from Russia, to at least 500 percent. If approved, the legislation will add pressure on countries like India, China and Brazil, which continue to purchase Russian oil despite US sanctions.
According to Republican US Senator Lindsey Graham, among Trump’s closest congressional allies in the Senate, the US President has approved the bill titled as the “Sanctioning of Russia Act 2025,” which could be brought up for a bipartisan vote in the US Congress next week.
Bilateral relations between India and the US have been frosty since the August 2025 imposition of 50 percent tariffs, including a 25 percent penalty on purchases of Russian crude.
Despite the ongoing strain, both US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have repeatedly emphasised that they continue to share a strong friendship. However, no trade deal has been reached so far.
However, India on Friday termed as “inaccurate” US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s statement that the India-US trade deal has been delayed because New Delhi missed the negotiating window set by Washington and Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not make a telephonic call to President Donald Trump.
Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, “We have seen the remarks. India and the US were committed to negotiating a bilateral trade agreement as far back as February 13 last year. Since then, the two sides have held multiple rounds of negotiations to arrive at a balanced and mutually beneficial trade agreement.”
“On several occasions, we have been close to a deal. The characterisation of these discussions in the reported remarks is not accurate,” Jaiswal said.
He said India remains “interested in a mutually beneficial trade deal between two complementary economies and look forward to concluding it.”
“Incidentally, Prime Minister Modi and President Trump have also spoken on the phone on eight occasions during 2025, covering different aspects of our wide-ranging partnership,” he said.
