Kamal Ghorui
India-US tariff agreement shows you don’t always have to flatter Trump to get him to the table, you have to be smart about knowing what will get him there. Plus, Trump’s man in New Delhi was a big help
There were many reasons to believe a US-India trade deal wouldn’t happen, or at least not anytime in the foreseeable future.
After all, ties were tense, and much trust had been lost. New Delhi had doubled down on its red line of not opening up politically sensitive sectors. US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick claimed India missed a great opportunity for a deal when Modi declined to call Trump last year. Not to mention, India had seemingly done practically everything it needed to do to get a deal, but to no avail: it reduced and eliminated a number of tariffs. It took back undocumented Indian workers in US. And after US’s new Russia sanctions kicked in last Nov, it reduced its Russian oil imports.
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