‘Must respect India’s red lines’: EAM amid US trade deal talks

Many of the issues currently affecting India-US relations are linked to the inability to reach an understanding on trade, but any deal that is finalised has to respect New Delhi's red lines, external affairs minister S Jaishankar said on Sunday.

- HT Correspondent

An understanding on trade is necessary because the US is the world's largest market but differences between the two countries have to be seen in proportion as some aspects of the bilateral relationship are continuing as "business as usual", Jaishankar said during a discussion with the theme of "Shaping foreign policy in turbulent times" at the Kautilya Economic Enclave.

Jaishankar's address largely focused on the strategic consequences of unprecedented changes on the global stage, including the leveraging of production, supply chains, trade, data and connectivity, and India's approach towards coping with these shifts by developing manufacturing and national power.

Against the backdrop of strains in the India-US ties not witnessed in close to two decades, Jaishankar said most of the issues in the relationship are linked to the inability to conclude a trade deal. He made the remarks while responding to questions from the moderator, former revenue secretary NK Singh, and members of the audience. "We have today issues with the United States. A big part of it is the fact that we have not arrived at a landing ground for our trade discussions, and the inability so far to reach there has led to a certain tariff being levied on India," Jaishankar said, referring to the 25% reciprocal tariff levied by the Trump administration.

"In addition, there is a second tariff which we have publicly said we regard as very unfair, which has picked on us for sourcing energy from Russia," he said in the context of a 25% punitive levy imposed by the US administration.