Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick mentioned the prospects for a commerce deal between the US and India on the U.S.-India Strategic Partnership Discussion board in Washington D.C. on June 2, 2025. (@USISPForum/YouTube)
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, talking on the 2025 U.S.-India Strategic Partnership Discussion board (USISPF), outlined the way forward for U.S.-India commerce ties, urging deeper financial cooperation consistent with President Trump’s tariff-driven push.
“Earlier international locations get a greater deal. That is the way in which it’s,” Lutnick remarked throughout his keynote tackle on the USISPF on Monday in Washington D.C. “Those that are available in, you realize, July 4th to July ninth, there’s simply going to be a pile. However those that are earlier—and I believe India’s making an attempt exhausting to be one of many earlier international locations, which I admire.”
The commerce secretary acknowledged the unusually fast timeline the administration is pursuing in distinction to conventional multi-year negotiations.
“These sorts of offers used to take 2 or 3 years, and we’re making an attempt to get them executed in a month, which is, you realize, simply not the unusual DNA of buying and selling relationships between international locations,” he mentioned.
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Howard Lutnick, US commerce secretary, within the Oval Workplace of the White Home in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (Francis Chung/Politico/Bloomberg by way of Getty Photos / Getty Photos)
Lutnick argued that the administration shouldn’t be advocating for sweeping concessions from India, however “affordable entry to the markets of India.”
“We wish our companies to have affordable entry to the markets of India,” he mentioned. “Now, it isn’t going to be every little thing and it isn’t going to be all over the place. However we need to have the commerce deficit lowered.”
“Now in change for that, what India goes to need is they will get sure key markets that they’re going to need to make it possible for they’ve particular entry to the American market,” he mentioned. “And so that is the tradeoff.”
He mentioned that ongoing talks between India and the U.S. are in a “excellent place.”
“We have managed, I believe, to be in a really, excellent place, and it is best to anticipate a deal between the US and India within the not-too-distant future, as a result of I believe we discovered a spot that basically works for each international locations,” he mentioned.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick departs after U.S. President Donald Trump indicators govt orders imposing tariffs on imported items throughout a “Make America Rich Once more” commerce announcement occasion within the Rose Backyard on the White Home on April 2, 202 (Andrew Harnik/Getty Photos / Getty Photos)
In a Monday night TruthSocial submit, Trump doubled down on his core commerce doctrine: “If different Nations are allowed to make use of Tariffs towards us, and we’re not allowed to counter them, shortly and nimbly, with Tariffs towards them, our Nation doesn’t have, even a small probability, of Financial survival.”
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U.S. President Donald Trump holds up a chart of “reciprocal tariffs” whereas talking throughout a “Make America Rich Once more” commerce announcement occasion within the Rose Backyard on the White Home on April 2, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Photos / Getty Photos)
In April, Trump imposed a 27% reciprocal tariff on most Indian exports to stress India into reducing its tariffs. Whereas strategic sectors like prescription drugs have been exempt, industries reminiscent of textiles and equipment have been affected.
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India has since averted retaliation, opting as a substitute to barter with the administration to ease the tariffs.