‘Fruitful discussions to expand trade ties’: US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick travels to India, meets Piyush Goyal
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "‘Fruitful discussions to expand trade ties’: US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick travels to India, meets Piyush Goyal")
Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal poses with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Ambassador Sergio Gor Photograph: (X\@PiyushGoyal)
US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick had famously claimed in a podcast that the trade deal with India could not materialise last year because PM Modi refused to call Trump. He also said earlier that India would eventually give in to the pressure, say sorry, and try to make an agreement.
Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal met with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Ambassador Sergio Gor on Thursday and discussed trade and economic partnership between India and the United States. Goyal confirmed the talks on trade expansion in a statement on X. “Hosted US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick & US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor. Engaged in very fruitful discussions to expand our trade and economic partnership,” Goyal wrote on X without divulging much on the meeting, but the mention of ‘trade’ and ‘economic partnership’ gave enough hints that the proposed trade deal was the focal point of talks.
The three leaders were all smiles as they posed for a photo.
It was not until Goyal tweeted on Thursday that India came to know of Lutnick’s visit.
Gor also shared that they had met but did not divulge much. “So many areas of cooperation for our two nations. A highly productive lunch with Howard Lutnick and Piyush Goyal,” he tweeted.
The timing of Lutnick’s visit is crucial. Lutnick had famously claimed in a podcast that the trade deal with India could not materialise last year because Prime Minister Modi refused to directly call Trump.
Some months ago, Lutnick had made another bold prediction amid the trade deal logjam. He said India would eventually give in to the tariff pressure, say sorry, and try to make an agreement. However, it was Lutnick who travelled all the way to Delhi.
The US embassy in India also shared photos of Lutnick with Goyal.
Earlier this week, Goyal had said that trade talks between the two countries would resume once there was greater clarity, following the US Supreme Court’s invalidation of President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs. Several countries that struck trade deals are now reassessing their positions.
Earlier this month, India and the US agreed on an initial framework to reduce US tariffs on Indian exports from 50 per cent to 18 per cent.
The US Supreme Court invalidated Trump’s emergency tariffs, creating more negotiation space for India.
India postponed a planned delegation trip to Washington that was intended to finalise the interim deal, though it is not reconsidering the agreement itself.
Indian officials are cautiously evaluating next steps to protect commercial interests without disrupting bilateral relations.
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Trump has rampantly used reciprocal tariffs as leverage in finalising trade deals.
After the Supreme Court ruling, an infuriated Trump warned countries against ‘playing games’ and walking back on trade commitments.
“Any country that wants to play games with the ridiculous Supreme Court decision, especially those that have ripped off the US for years, and even decades, will be met with a much higher tariff, and worse, than that which they just recently agreed to,” Trump posted on Truth Social.
