President Trump says that he has agreed to a trade deal with India —- which will lower tariffs on the country to 18%.
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
After months of tensions, the United States and India may be inching back together after President Trump announced a new trade deal. NPR’s Diaa Hadid reports from Mumbai.
DIAA HADID, BYLINE: There was palpable relief.
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HADID: The Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, was garlanded with marigolds in Parliament, got a standing ovation.
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UNIDENTIFIED POLITICIANS: (Chanting in non-English language).
HADID: It came after President Trump said on Truth Social that he’d agreed to a trade deal with India that would lower tariffs to 18%. That was a dramatic tumble from 50% tariffs that Washington imposed in India in August, one of the world’s highest rates. Half of the tariffs were reciprocal, but the other half were meant to punish India for being a major buyer of Russian oil. Trump allies, like adviser Peter Navarro, even accused the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi of funding Russia’s occupation of Ukraine. He spoke to Bloomberg in August.
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PETER NAVARRO: The road to peace runs at least partly right through…
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: You mean…
NAVARRO: … New Delhi.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: …Putin’s war? Modi’s war?
NAVARRO: I mean Modi’s…
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: OK.
NAVARRO: …War.
HADID: Modi’s war. Trump said the trade deal came after Modi agreed in a phone call to stop buying Russian oil. And instead, India would buy it from the U.S. and, quote, “potentially Venezuela.” So far, India remains a major buyer of Russian oil, although it has curbed its purchases. Other details may be politically explosive for India. Trump said India agreed to reduce tariffs to zero on U.S. products. And later, the agricultural secretary, Brooke Rollins, said the deal would allow more American agricultural goods into India. That’s long been seen as a redline because hundreds of millions of Indians rely on the agricultural sector to survive. Modi, so far, has only confirmed the reduced tariffs on X. Economist Shoumitro Chatterjee says it’s too soon to have details.
SHOUMITRO CHATTERJEE: We don’t know anything. And so I don’t – I mean, we’ll just have to wait, I guess.
HADID: But Chatterjee says what’s key for now…
CHATTERJEE: It’s good to see there being sort of reconciliation and going back to basically where we were.
HADID: A reconciliation or reset between India and its largest trading partner – for now.
Diaa Hadid, NPR News, Mumbai.
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