India stated that the characterisation of the trade discussions between New Delhi and Washington by United States Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick during a podcast was “not accurate”. Lutnick had claimed that the proposed trade deal between India and the US did not materialise because Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not call US President Donald Trump.
He claimed that India was “uncomfortable” with Modi calling Trump to finalise the deal, and so the US moved on and concluded trade deals with other countries. Lutnick said that the conditions under which India and the US had earlier appeared close to finalising a deal were no longer available.
Responding to this, India’s Ministry of External Affairs stated that New Delhi and Washington have held multiple rounds of negotiation “to arrive at a balanced and mutually-beneficial” trade deal. “Incidentally, prime minister [Modi] and President Trump have also spoken on phone on eight occasions during 2025, covering different aspects of our wide-ranging partnership,” said ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal. Read on.
Responding to New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani writing a note to jailed activist Umar Khalid in December, the Indian government said that public representatives are expected to respect the independence of the judiciary in other democracies. “Expressing personal prejudices do not behove those in…
Source: Rush Hour: India says US official’s remark on trade talks inaccurate, TMC MPs detained and more
