India, Trump still don’t have a tariff deal

The stakes are high, with the United States and India counting on each other as indispensable partners in their competition with China, writes Alex Travelli from New Delhi

- Alex Travelli

India was eager to start negotiating with President Donald Trump over tariffs. Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Washington right after the inauguration. Hopes were high for a quick trade agreement with a reelected president who prizes deals.

Six months later, there is still no deal. With tariffs threatened and deadlines blown, India and the United States are up against a wall. On Friday, the United States is ready to impose a 26% tariff on all goods it imports from India.

Dozens of countries are facing the same imperative. But India, a democracy and the world’s most populous country, is a major commercial partner of the United States. Total trade between the two countries was roughly $130 billion last year.

The nations have deep cultural and demographic ties. Indian immigrants and Americans with Indian roots occupy a stratum of leadership roles in US business, academia and politics.

Their economic ties are of vital and growing importance, to India especially. And for 25 years, Washington has been courting India as a military partner, sometimes explicitly as a counterweight to China.