Kamal Ghorui
Jairam Ramesh, left, and PM Modi
NEW DELHI: Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh on Sunday stepped up his attack on the Centre over the proposed India-US interim trade agreement, saying it was reflective of “Abki baar Trump se haar” and should be put in “cold storage.”His remarks came amid confusion following a US Supreme Court verdict striking down President Donald Trump’s earlier global tariffs.He said the terms of the framework must be renegotiated and the clause on import liberalisation, especially of agricultural products, scrapped, arguing that India had conceded without adequate gains.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi had given a slogan in Houston in 2019 — ‘Abki baar Trump Sarkaar’ but this framework for an interim agreement is proof of ‘Abki baar Trump se haar’,” he told PTI.Ramesh pointed out that the framework allows either side to modify commitments in case of changes, and said India had the right to revise its obligations after Trump altered tariffs. “The first commitment we have made is to reduce or eliminate tariffs on a wide range of food and agricultural products. Our demand to the PM is to put this in cold storage,” he said.According to him, India had committed to eliminate or cut import duties on all US industrial goods and a wide range of American food and agricultural products — a provision that should be changed under the joint statement. He warned that soybean, maize, fruits and nuts, and cotton farmers in Jammu and Kashmir, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Himachal Pradesh would be directly affected.“Our second question is that when the PM, the commerce minister (Piyush Goyal), knew from December that any time (now) the Supreme Court verdict could come, many believed that it could be struck down. Why did you hurriedly strike a deal when you knew the verdict could go against Trump,” he said.“I hope in light of the massive confusion that surrounds this issue, this joint statement is put on cold storage, we renegotiate the terms, this is a one-sided deal. This will be detrimental to the interests of lakhs and lakhs of farmers in different states of the country,” Ramesh added.Questioning the timing of the announcement, he asked what happened on February 2 that led the prime minister to “force” President Trump to announce the trade deal. “This is directly linked to Mr. Rahul Gandhi’s attack in Parliament on the PM on the failures on the external security front. So this announcement of the deal was part of managing the news and the headlines,” he alleged.Sharpening his campaign, Ramesh said the Congress would organise a “Maha Kisan Maha Chaupal” in multiple states to mobilise farmers and discuss the potential fallout of the evolving trade deal.“We’ll have a Maha Kisan Maha Chaupal in Bhopal, in Yavatmal, Maharashtra, on 7th March, and later in Sri Ganganagar, Rajasthan. We’re in touch with farmers’ organisations. We’ll work with them too. Three black laws were withdrawn. It took 14-15 months, but PM Modi was forced to withdraw them. Prime Minister does ‘taareef’, while Trump keeps imposing ‘tariffs’. I’m telling you this based on President Trump’s statements,” he told ANI.The remarks came days after the US Supreme Court struck down most of Trump’s sweeping tariff measures, ruling 6-3 that the administration exceeded its authority by using the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 to impose broad import tariffs. The Court held that the power to levy taxes rests primarily with Congress.Following the ruling, Trump announced a new 10 per cent global tariff on all countries under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 as a temporary import surcharge of up to 15 per cent for 150 days to address balance-of-payments deficits. He later raised it to the “fully allowed, and legally tested, 15% level,” effective immediately.
