Days after US President Donald Trump said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi knew "I was not happy", a new revelation on the ongoing India-US trade negotiations surfaced online, following America Trade Secretary’s remarks, which show Trump’s ego behind the delay in the deal.

US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, in an interview, revealed that the trade deal between India and the US could not materialise until now, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi refused to call Trump directly. The crucial statement from Lutnick highlighted that it was not the policy issue that led to a long delay in trade deal but the US President’s ego and frustration.

Lutnick said if any country wants to finalise the deal, the head of state has to make a final call to Trump, as it is “Trump’s deal” and added the Indian Prime Minister was “uncomfortable” in following the trend.

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"The whole deal was set up. But let's be clear, it's his (Trump) deal. He is the closer. He does the deal. You just had to have Modi call the President. They were uncomfortable doing it. Modi didn't call,” said Lutnick.

The commerce secretary said the US did trade deals with Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam but he assumed the trade deal with India was going to be done before them.

“… we did Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, we announced a whole bunch of deals. So we did these whole bunch of deals…. because we negotiated them and assumed India was going to be done before them, I have negotiated them at a higher rate. So now the problem is the deals came out at a higher rate. And then India calls back and says, ‘Oh, okay, we are ready'. I said, ready for what," the US commerce secretary said.

What happened to India-US trade deal

The claim by the top US official came at a time when the two countries were negotiating a bilateral trade agreement. So far, six rounds of negotiations have been held for that. The pact includes a framework deal to resolve the 50 per cent tariffs on Indian goods entering America.

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Earlier on Sunday, Trump, while talking to reporters aboard Air Force One en route to Washington DC from Florida, claimed New Delhi wanted him to make them happy— a claim which wasn’t refuted by New Delhi until now.

"They (India) wanted to make me happy, basically. Modi is a very good man; he is a good guy. He knew I was not happy, and it was important to make me happy. They do trade and we can raise tariffs on them very quickly. It would be very bad for them," Trump said.

(With inputs from agency)


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