India-US Trade Deal: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday said that there is no "kutti" (resentment) with America and the trade negotiations are still going on, but asserted that India has some "red lines" and the Modi government is committed to defending them during trade negotiations with any country. India is among the nations facing the highest US Tariffs of up to 50 per cent, which the Trump administration has imposed primarily due to the purchase of Russian oil.

Speaking at the Economic Times World Leaders Forum 2025 in New Delhi, EAM Jaishankar said, "India-US trade negotiations are still going on. But the bottom line is we have some red lines. Negotiations are still going on in the sense that nobody said the negotiations are off. People do talk to each other. It's not like there's a 'kutti' there."

Jaishankar further said that there are some redlines in the negotiations, "to be maintained and defended" by India to protect its farmers and small producers. "Where we are concerned, the red lines are primarily the interests of our farmers and, to some extent, of our small producers. We, as a government, are committed to defending the interests of our farmers and our small producers. We are very determined on that. That's not something that we can compromise on."

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The Trump Administration earlier this month imposed additional tariffs on Indian goods, raising the levy to 50 per cent from 25 per cent. The 25 per cent tariff has already come into effect, while the remaining 25 per cent is set to be enforced from August 27.

The foreign minister further flagged the US' double standards on India's oil purchase from Russia and said that Washington's concerns do not apply to other major buyers of Russian oil and energy, including China and the European Union. Jaishankar asserted that the tariff issue was being wrongly presented as an "oil dispute."

"The second issue is that this is being presented as an oil issue. But why I say 'being presented' is because the same arguments that have been used to target India have not been applied to the largest oil importer, which is China, and have not been applied to the largest LNG importer, which is the European nations," he said.

Calling out Trump's foreign policies, Jaishankar said India's purchases of Russian oil had not been raised in earlier trade talks with the US before the public announcement of tariffs. "We have not had a US president who conducts his foreign policy so publicly as the current one and (it) is a departure from the traditional way of conducting business with the world," Jaishankar said.

Jaishankar pointed out the contradiction in the West's stance, saying Europe trades far more with Russia than India does. "And when people say we are funding the war and putting the money, Russia-European trade is bigger than India-Russia trade. So European money is not putting coffers? The overall Russia-EU trade is bigger than the Russia-India trade. If the argument is energy, they (EU) are bigger buyers. If the argument is who is the bigger trader, they are bigger than us. India's exports to Russia have grown, but not that much," he added.

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According to a report by Reuters, a planned visit by US trade negotiators to New Delhi from August 25-29 has been called off, dashing hopes that the levies may be lowered or postponed. India-US trade talks collapsed earlier this year due to India not agreeing to open its vast agricultural and dairy sectors.