‘Spin doctors at work’: Congress slams PM for ‘pushing through’ India-US trade deal with ‘no details’

36 hours have passed since President Trump said that the India-US trade deal was being announced and coming into effect immediately at Mr. Modi’s request. Spin doctors are at work, but we still don’t have any details on the deal – although it is clear that India has made…

— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) February 4, 2026

Congress leader Supriya Shrinate also raised concerns, questioning why the deal was announced first by Trump and how an increase from an average tariff of under 3 per cent to 18 per cent could be projected as a win for India. She warned that higher imports of American goods could hurt the ‘Make in India’ programme and domestic manufacturing, and asked whether the deal would constrain India’s strategic choices, including oil purchases from Russia and its role at Iran’s Chabahar port.

बर्बादियों का जश्न मनाता चला गया…

आज कुछ ऐसा ही नरेंद्र मोदी और BJP के लोग कर रहे हैं।

यह लोग 18% ट्रेड डील पर जश्न मना रहे हैं – जबकि अभी तक भारत पर अमेरिका औसतन 3% से कम टैरिफ लगाता था।

भारत-अमेरिका ट्रेड डील पर सिर्फ़ विशुद्ध मूर्ख ख़ुश हो सकते हैं। यह डील इतनी एकतरफा… pic.twitter.com/WrfTUAcLht

— Congress (@INCIndia) February 3, 2026

The trade deal

Trump said the US had reduced tariffs on Indian goods from 50 per cent to 18per cent “with immediate effect”. The announcement came after India addressed several US demands in the Union Budget and stepped up trade talks with partners such as the UK and the European Union.

What Rahul Gandhi said

The political row unfolded amid heightened tensions in Parliament, where Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi has sharpened his attack on PM Narendra Modi over the past two days. Outside Parliament, Gandhi said the sudden clinching of the trade deal after months of pause showed that Modi was “under pressure”. He alleged that the pressure stemmed from developments in the US involving industrialist Gautam Adani and the release of files linked to Jeffrey Epstein, claiming the Prime Minister was “compromised”.

Gandhi’s remarks came as the stand-off in the Lok Sabha intensified after he was repeatedly stopped from referring to former Army chief General M M Naravane’s unpublished memoir while raising national security concerns linked to the 2020 Ladakh standoff with China. Protests by Opposition MPs following the Chair’s intervention led to the suspension of eight members for the remainder of the Budget Session.