India Denies US Trade Deal Delay Charge

New Delhi on Friday rejected as “factually incorrect” comments made by US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick suggesting that a long-discussed India-US trade agreement failed to materialise last year because Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not place a phone call to President Donald Trump.

India maintained that it continues to seek a fair and mutually advantageous trade agreement with the United States, describing the two nations as “complementary economies.” The government also underlined that Prime Minister Modi and President Trump spoke by telephone eight times in 2025, discussing a broad range of bilateral and global issues.

The response came amid growing strain in ties between New Delhi and Washington, which are widely seen as facing their most challenging phase in nearly two decades. Trade negotiations stalled after the US imposed steep tariffs on Indian goods, including a total levy of 50 per cent that incorporated a 25 per cent penalty linked to India’s purchases of Russian crude oil.

Addressing the controversy, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said the two countries had agreed to pursue a bilateral trade agreement during a meeting between Modi and Trump at the White House on February 13 last year. Since then, he said, both sides had engaged in several rounds of talks aimed at reaching a balanced outcome.

“On multiple occasions, negotiations were close to completion,” Jaiswal said at his weekly briefing. “The manner in which these discussions have been described in recent remarks does not reflect the reality.” He added that there was no instance during the course of last year when a phone call could have decisively concluded the agreement, countering the US commerce secretary’s account.

Lutnick, speaking in an interview on Thursday, claimed that India and the US were nearing a deal and that President Trump had publicly indicated India as a potential next partner after finalising an agreement with the United Kingdom. According to Lutnick, India was given a limited window to close the deal, but the process faltered when Modi did not personally call Trump to finalise it.

Following that period, Lutnick noted, Washington went on to announce trade agreements with countries including Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam, as part of a series of deals concluded in July. Beyond trade, several other issues have added to bilateral friction. These include Trump’s assertion that he played a role in ending last year’s India-Pakistan tensions, as well as concerns in New Delhi over Washington’s revised immigration policies.