India refutes US claim on bilateral trade deal collapse

India on Friday rejected US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick's claim that a bilateral trade deal could not be sealed last year because Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not call president Donald Trump, and said New Delhi remains interested in concluding a mutually beneficial agreement.

- Rezaul H Laskar

India and the US had begun negotiations for a trade deal after a meeting between Modi and Trump in February. Commerce secretary Lutnick said in a podcast that India had been given “three Fridays” to clinch the agreement, and that Modi had to call Trump to close the pact. At a time when bilateral relations are at a fresh low, Lutnick caused a stir by claiming that the PM “didn’t call” as the Indian side was uncomfortable with it.

External affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal referred to Lutnick’s remarks at a weekly media briefing and said: “The characterization of these discussions in the reported remarks is not accurate.”