‘India needs to offer Trump a headline deal’

India should focus on giving President Trump an eye-catching headline rather than getting stuck in details to seal a trade deal with Washington, says Mukesh Aghi, who heads the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum. In an interview with HT, Aghi said the risk of the trade deal falling through is high as Trump wants a bigger agreement. Edited excerpts:

- Shashank Mattoo

The India-US trade deal seems to be stuck at the moment. Why is that?

India was the first country to start negotiations and we made a lot of progress.

Last week, commerce secretary Howard Lutnick and US trade representative Jameson Greer gave the proposal to the President. However, the President wanted a bigger deal. This was a phase one deal that does not address agriculture and dairy, which is a red line for India.

The challenge is that we are so entrenched in the grain of the deal rather than giving a big picture headline to the President since he loves headlines.

My recommendation would be that India should tell President Trump this is a “trillion dollar deal” — taking trade between the two countries from $200 billion to $1 trillion. Then look at Indian companies’ investments in the US. Last year we had investments worth $12-15 billion. We can tell the president that in the next five years, Indian companies will invest half a trillion dollars. We need to give a headline platform, otherwise the deal will get stuck.

How real is the risk of the deal falling through?