CSIS Advisor Richard Rossow on India-US trade deal: Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) senior advisor Richard Rossow has hailed the
calmness with which India approached the United States’ pressure, news agency ANI reported. Rossow’s comments come after India sealed the much-awaited trade deal with the US, under which Washington will bring down the reciprocal tariff on Indian goods to 18 per cent from current 25 per cent. In an interaction with ANI, Rossow noted how the US wanted to repair the trade deficit with India, and despite warm relations, there was a bit of ruffle. “First, the US wanted India to commit to buying a certain percentage of American goods to help repair the trade deficit, which is currently about two to one in deficit with India. The second thing was agricultural market access. For India, certain staple grains are a no-go... For the US, the question was whether this was a negotiating tactic or a real red line. We will see that staple grains grown in India were likely excluded from the market…,” the CSIS senior advisor said.
Rossow further told ANI that after the US hit India with tariffs, India too retaliated with its own tariffs in US President Donald Trump's last term.
"At the end of the day, India approached the US pressure with a calm head. The last time President Trump was in office, there was a medium-intensity trade war. The US hit India with tariffs on steel and aluminium, revoked India's trade preferences under the GSP program, and India retaliated with its own tariffs. Despite a warm relationship between the leaders, there was significant conflict on both sides," he added.
Rossow added, "It looks like both sides have agreed for the US to get better market access into India, including dropping non-tariff barriers, as President Trump mentioned, and also removing most of the tariffs that the US had placed on India... What we don't know is what other things were included. There's also the agreement that India will buy USD 500 billion worth of American goods, but we don't know the details of that or the time frame."
On Indian purchase of Russian oil, he told ANI that previously when the US pressured India about its purchases from Venezuela and Iran, India complied only because it presented a real threat.
Modi's ‘Thanks’ to Donald Trump
Prime Minister Narendra Modi thanked his ‘dear friend’, President Donald Trump, for reducing the reciprocal tariffs to 18 per cent compared to their original 25 per cent levels.
“Wonderful to speak with my dear friend President Trump today. Delighted that Made in India products will now have a reduced tariff of 18%. Big thanks to President Trump on behalf of the 1.4 billion people of India for this wonderful announcement,” said PM Modi in his post on X.
