NEW DELHI: External affairs minister S Jaishankar on Thursday refuted the claims made by Donald Trump on India-US trade deal and said that the talks were still ongoing and nothing had been decided. This came hours after the US president claimed that India had agreed to bring down tariffs to zero.
"On the trade remarks. Let me say this that look between India and US trade talks have been going on, negotiations have been going on. In fact, we have, I think our team is just going at this point. These are very complicated negotiations. They are very intricate, intricate," he said.
"Nothing is decided, you know. But any trade deal, any trade deal has to be mutually beneficial. Any trade deal has to work for both the countries, and I think that would be our expectation from the trade deal and until that is done, I think any judgement on it would be premature," he added.
Congress party questioned the Centre's silence over Trump's remarks with Jairam Ramesh saying, "The Commerce Minister is in Washington DC and President Trump has made yet another grand announcement from Doha. There is total chuppi from our PM. What has he agreed to and what linkage is there between this and the stoppage of Operation Sindoor?"
Trump had said that India had proposed an almost zero-tariff agreement on a reciprocal basis. "They have offered us a deal where we're basically they're willing to literally charge us no tariff," he said.
His remarks came in as he urged Apple CEO Tim Cook to stop building businesses in India as the country is "one of the highest tariff nations in the world".
"I had a little problem with Tim Cook yesterday. I said to him, my friend, I am treating you very good. You are coming up with $500 billion, but now I hear you are building all over India. I don't want you building in India. You can build in India, if you want to take care of India because India is one of the highest tariff nations in the world, so it is very hard to sell in India," he said.
"On the trade remarks. Let me say this that look between India and US trade talks have been going on, negotiations have been going on. In fact, we have, I think our team is just going at this point. These are very complicated negotiations. They are very intricate, intricate," he said.
"Nothing is decided, you know. But any trade deal, any trade deal has to be mutually beneficial. Any trade deal has to work for both the countries, and I think that would be our expectation from the trade deal and until that is done, I think any judgement on it would be premature," he added.
Congress party questioned the Centre's silence over Trump's remarks with Jairam Ramesh saying, "The Commerce Minister is in Washington DC and President Trump has made yet another grand announcement from Doha. There is total chuppi from our PM. What has he agreed to and what linkage is there between this and the stoppage of Operation Sindoor?"
Trump had said that India had proposed an almost zero-tariff agreement on a reciprocal basis. "They have offered us a deal where we're basically they're willing to literally charge us no tariff," he said.
His remarks came in as he urged Apple CEO Tim Cook to stop building businesses in India as the country is "one of the highest tariff nations in the world".
"I had a little problem with Tim Cook yesterday. I said to him, my friend, I am treating you very good. You are coming up with $500 billion, but now I hear you are building all over India. I don't want you building in India. You can build in India, if you want to take care of India because India is one of the highest tariff nations in the world, so it is very hard to sell in India," he said.
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