Trade negotiations between the U.S. and India are ongoing, although New Delhi has some “red lines” that it will defend, according to India’s foreign minister.
“I mean, negotiations are still going on in the sense that nobody said the negotiations are off. You know? I mean, and people, people do talk to each other,” Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said at an Economic Times forum event on Saturday.
President Trump’s administration is set to hit India with a 50 percent tariff on Aug. 27, including a 25 percent duty on India over its Russian oil purchases, which Trump and his advisers have argued is fueling Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Earlier this week, White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said he does not expect Trump to extend the timeline on doubling the tariff rate. And next week’s meeting between the U.S. and India’s trade negotiators was scrapped.
Jaishankar said that New Delhi’s “red lines” are primarily the interests of India’s farmers and “to some extent” of small businesses.
“We as a government are committed to defend the interests of our farmers and our small producers. We are very determined on that,” the foreign minister said on Saturday. “That’s not something which we can compromise on.”
The U.S. goods and services trade with India was worth around $212.3 billion last year.
“The same arguments which have been used to target India have not been applied to the largest oil importer, which is China, has not been applied to the largest [liquified natural gas] importer, which is the European Union,” the foreign minister said.
“And when people say we are funding the war or putting money in the coffers of [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, India-European Union trade is bigger than India-Russia trade,” Jaishankar said. “So is not European money, not putting coffers, putting money into Putin’s coffers.”
