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Islamabad: India\u2019s trade pact with the United States was delayed because Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not make a telephone call to US President Donald Trump to close a deal they were negotiating, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has said.<\/p>\n
According to Kashmir Media Service, the trade talks fell apart last year and Trump doubled tariffs on Indian goods in August to 50 per cent, the world\u2019s highest rate, including a levy of 25pc in retaliation for India\u2019s purchases of Russian oil.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s all set up and you have got to have Modi call the president. And they were uncomfortable doing it,\u201d Lutnick said in an interview on the All-In podcast, a US show by four venture capitalists that focuses on business and technology. \u201cSo Modi didn\u2019t call.\u201d<\/p>\n
The comments came after Trump stepped up the pressure for talks with a warning this week that tariffs could rise further unless India curbs its Russian oil imports.<\/p>\n
That step pushed the Indian rupee to a record low and spooked investors waiting for progress in two-way negotiations for a trade deal that remains elusive.<\/p>\n
India still seeks a tariff rate between Washington\u2019s offers to Britain and Vietnam that had formerly been agreed but the offer has expired, Lutnick added.<\/p>\n
New Delhi and Washington were very close to a trade deal last year but a communication breakdown led to the collapse of any potential pact, Reuters reported.<\/p>\n
It cited an Indian government official involved in the talks as saying that Modi could not have called Trump, for fear that a one-sided conversation would put him on the spot.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Islamabad: India\u2019s trade pact with the United States was delayed because Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not make a telephone call to US President Donald Trump to close a deal they were negotiating, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has said. According to Kashmir Media Service, the trade talks fell apart last year and Trump doubled tariffs …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":192249,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-192248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-india"],"yoast_head":"\n