Amid trade talks, PM speaks to Trump, says will work together for global peace, prosperity

Third Trump-Modi call since 50% tariff on India

This was their third phone conversation since the Trump administration imposed 50 per cent tariffs on India – they last spoke on October 22 when Trump called Modi to greet him on Diwali. “We talked about trade… He’s very interested in that,” Trump had said then.

Following the phone conversation Thursday, a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office said “both leaders reviewed the steady progress in India-US bilateral relations and exchanged views on key regional and global developments”.

The two leaders, according to the statement, reiterated that India and the US will continue to work closely together to advance global peace, stability and prosperity.

Government sources said the leaders expressed satisfaction at the steady strengthening of bilateral cooperation across all domains. In recent days, senior US officials have visited India and discussed counter-terrorism, trade, defence, technology as areas of cooperation between India and the US.

“They exchanged views on expanding cooperation in critical technologies, energy, defence and security, and other priority areas central to the implementation of the India-US COMPACT (Catalysing Opportunities for Military Partnership, Accelerated Commerce and Technology) for the 21st century,” a source said.

‘US should sign trade deal if it feels it got the best offer’

As the trade talks took place in New Delhi, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, who was in Mumbai, said a trade deal is done when both countries stand to benefit from it and that the United States Trade Representative (USTR) should “sign on the dotted lines” of the trade deal if the US believes it has received the “best offer” from New Delhi.

Goyal’s remark came a day after USTR Jamieson Greer said in Washington DC that the US had received the “best” offer from India. Greer also said India was a “difficult nut to crack” owing to its resistance to importing American agricultural products. India is facing steep 50 per cent US tariffs, the highest globally. After the US, Mexico has also imposed 50 per cent tariffs on India and other Asian countries over fears of rerouting of goods.

Responding to a question on the hold-up despite the USTR’s “best offer” comment, Goyal said, “His happiness is very much welcome. I do believe that if they are very happy, they should be signing on the dotted line.”

Also Thursday, Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) V Anantha Nageswaran said he was expecting the trade deal to be signed by the end of November and that the absence of a trade deal has had an impact on investor sentiment.

“I will be surprised if the India-US deal is not sealed by the end of the financial year. I was hoping that something would be done by the end of November. I agree with you that it has had an impact on the investors’ sentiments, and as and when the deal is agreed upon, there will be a huge weight lifted off the shoulders of the Indian markets,” the CEA said in an interview to Bloomberg TV.

‘Negotiations progressing well’

Responding to a question citing the CEA’s comment on the trade deal deadline, Goyal said, “I am not aware of the basis of the CEA’s comments. I can only say that negotiations are progressing well. We have had substantive discussions over several rounds of negotiations. In the past, five rounds happened, but the current visit is not a negotiating round.”

“A deal is only done when both sides stand to benefit. And I don’t think we should ever negotiate with deadlines or hardstops because you tend to make mistakes,” he said.