New Delhi: Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Saturday once again trained his guns at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over India-US tariff trade deal and said ‘mark my words’, he will meekly bow to President Donald Trump tariff deadline.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Rahul Gandhi said: “Piyush Goyal can beat his chest all he wants, mark my words, Modi will meekly bow to the Trump tariff deadline.”
His remarks came even as Indian and US negotiators are working to meet the deadline on US tariff deadline of July 9 and Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal asserting that India will not hurry into signing a free trade agreement under pressure from any deadline.
While speaking on the sidelines of the 16th Toy Biz International B2B Expo in New Delhi, Goyal emphasised that India is ready to make trade deals in the national interest but it “never negotiates trade deals with a deadline”.
When asked specifically about prospects of an interim US deal by July 9, the Commerce Minister said any agreement would be announced only when “fully finalised, properly concluded and in the national interest”.
Goyal’s remarks came amid reports that India is likely to finalise the trade deal with the US before July 9, which marks the end of the 90-day suspension period of Trump’s tariffs imposed on dozens of countries, including India.
Even India’s negotiating team, led by chief negotiator Rajesh Agrawal, returned to Delhi Thursday after week-long talks in Washington.
On April 2, the US imposed an additional 26 per cent reciprocal tariff on Indian goods but suspended it for 90 days. However, the 10 per cent baseline tariff imposed by America remains in place. India is seeking full exemption from the additional 26 per cent tariff.
Meanwhile, the US also wants duty concessions on certain industrial goods, automobiles, especially electric vehicles, wines, and petrochemical products.
