‘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 isa 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?