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The Ministry of External Affairs on Friday said it had been close to a trade deal with the United States on several occasions, and the characterisation by the US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick about it was "not accurate."
"On several occasions, we have been close to a deal. The characterization of these discussions, the reported remarks, is not accurate," MEA Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said at the weekly presser. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Donald Trump have spoken over phone on several occasions over the past year, covering different aspects of wide ranging partnership between India and the US, Jaiswal said. "We have seen the remarks. India and the United States were committed to negotiating a bilateral trade agreement with the US as far as far back as 13th of February last year. That is, since then, two sides have held multiple rounds of negotiations to arrive at a balanced and mutually beneficial trade agreement," the MEA spokesperson said. "On several occasions, we have been close to a deal. The characterization of these discussions, the reported remarks, is not accurate," he said. India remains interested in a mutually beneficial trade deal between two complementary economies, and look forward to concluding it, he noted. Earlier, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick had claimed that the trade deal between India and the United States did not happen as Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not place a call to Donald Trump. In a conversation with American venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya, as part of the 'All-In Podcast' on Thursday (local time), Lutnick said that while contracts were negotiated and the entire deal structure was prepared, the final step required direct, leader-level engagement. "I would negotiate the contracts and set the whole deal up, but let's be clear. It's his (Trump's) deal. He's the closer. He does it. It's all set up, you got to have Modi, call the President. They were uncomfortable doing it. So Modi didn't call. That Friday left, in the next week we did Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, we announced a whole bunch of deals," the US Commerce Secretary said. Lutnick went on to explain Trump's broader trade negotiation strategy, describing it as a "staircase" model. According to him, countries that moved first received the best possible terms, while those that followed later were offered progressively higher rates. Referring to the first trade deal with the United Kingdom, Lutnick said Trump was repeatedly asked about which country would be next, and India was publicly named multiple times. India, he said, was given "three Fridays" to close the deal, effectively putting it on a "short clock." However, according to Lutnick, India did not meet the deadline and as a result, the US moved ahead with trade agreements with several Asian countries, including Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam, announcing a series of deals across Asia. Lutnick said these agreements were negotiated at higher rates, as the US had initially assumed that India's deal would be completed earlier. When India later approached the US, around three weeks after the deadline, seeking to proceed, it was told that the opportunity had passed. Trump administration has imposed tariffs on countries that were major exporters to the US, including India and China. There is a 50 per cent tariffs on goods from India entering the United States since August 2025. (ANI)
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