From 'Kremlin laundromat' to 'friend': Trump's U-turn brings India, US back to negotiating table; trade talks in Delhi today
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "From 'Kremlin laundromat' to 'friend': Trump's U-turn brings India, US back to negotiating table; trade talks in Delhi today")
Indian PM Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump Photograph: (AFP)
India and the United States will today resume trade talks, marking a significant reversal after weeks of tension caused by the Trump administration's imposition of a 50% tariff on Indian goods.
India and the United States on Tuesday (Sep 16) will return to the negotiating table and hold trade talks, revealed commerce ministry officials. According to reports, the impending talks represent a significant reversal in bilateral ties after weeks of tensions between the two allies in the aftermath of the punitive 50 per cent tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump on India for buying Russian oil. In a statement on Monday (Sep 15), special secretary, commerce Rajesh Agarwal, India's chief negotiator for the bilateral trade talks, said that US chief negotiator Brendan Lynch "is in India tonight".
A 'positive frame of mind'
Indian Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal confirmed that the US team would meet the Indian team on Tuesday. He said that the two sides remain in a "positive frame of mind" on trade relations.
The Tuesday talks are vital to India-US ties and may pave the way for the sixth round of the trade talks between the nations. The sixth round of talks was originally supposed to happen on August 25 in New Delhi, but was postponed after Trump, on August 7, imposed 50 per cent tariffs on India — 25 per cent reciprocal tariffs and 25 per cent punitive tariffs for the purchase of discounted US oil.
These would be the first formal face-to-face talks between the Indian and American negotiating teams. Previously, the fifth round of the talks was held from July 14 to 18 in Washington.
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India-US ties on the mend?
Agarwal and Barthwal described the upcoming trade talks as a "continuation of talks" between India and the US, insisting that the two sides had been "continuously and constructively" engaged in virtual talks. This comes, as earlier this month, US President Donald Trump, after weeks of criticising India, called Indian PM Narendra Modi a "great Prime Minister," and a friend. The sentiment was echoed by Modi, and signalled a thaw in the icy relations.
This was in stark contrast to Washington's earlier statement, where the Trump administration referred to India as an "oil money laundromat for the Kremlin" and accused New Delhi of financing the war in Ukraine.
