• Source:JND

The Congress went all guns blazing against the Centre following remarks by US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who said that "India failed to secure a trade agreement with the US because of a lack of direct involvement at the highest leadership levels."

Sharing a video on his official X (formerly Twitter) account, Congress MP Jairam Ramesh targeted the Prime Ministerwith a Bollywood song reference and wrote, “Kya se kya ho gaya, bewafa teri dosti mein.”

Another Congress MP, Manish Tewari, took a more nuanced stance on the Indo-US relationship, and said, “India and the United States share a deep civilisational and strategic relationship, not limited to the Asia-Pacific alone. To suggest that deals succeed or fail based on who calls whom is a very imbecile approach to international relations,” Tewari said, quoted PTI.

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He also pointed out that the US administration needs to consider India’s strategic position in the Asia-Pacific and beyond, which has been at the centre of bilateral talks with the US over the years. However, the present Trump administration is underestimating India’s regional role and sidelining it, he added.

What US Commerce Secretary Remarked?

The US Commerce Secretary, earlier this week, attributed the collapse of a proposed bilateral trade deal with India to PM Modi’s refusal to make a ‘closing’ phone call to President Trump. He further said that the Trump administration was keen to sign the deal with India, but New Delhi did not respond proactively.

“It was all set up. But you had to have Modi call President Trump. They were uncomfortable doing it. So Modi didn’t call,” Lutnick said at the All-In Podcast. He also described the Trump administration’s trade negotiation strategy as a ‘staircase’ model, where countries that agreed earlier received better terms.

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India and the US remain in a tariff dispute since March 2025. So far, the two countries have held six rounds of negotiations. Recently, a team led by Deputy US Trade Representative Rick Switzer visited India to break the deadlock. However, these bilateral talks have not yielded any fruitful results, leading to the Trump administration imposing a 50 per cent tariff and an additional 25 per cent penalty on oil imports from Russia.


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