Lutnick sees U.S.-India deal covering tariffs, weapons and dollar
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said there’s a chance to negotiate a broad trade agreement with India that addresses tariff imbalances as well as thorny issues for Washington like the South Asian nation’s purchase of Russian weapons and involvement in a BRICS push to dethrone the dollar.
“The United States is interested in doing a macro, large scale, broad-based trade agreement with India that takes everything into account, and that I think can be done,” Lutnick said virtually at an event hosted by India Today Group in New Delhi on Friday. “Let’s bring India’s tariff policy towards America down, and America will invite India in to have really an extraordinary opportunity and relationship with us.”
The comments come as President Donald Trump has indicated India could be among nations hit with reciprocal duties, which Lutnick has stressed will start April 2. Trump criticized India’s high tariffs on Thursday, calling the upcoming like-for-like duties “the big one.”
India’s Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal is on a nearly week-long trip to the U.S. to meet with Trump administration officials to discuss trade , with the South Asian nation hoping the ongoing negotiations will help shield the country from the impact from reciprocal duties.
“India has historically bought significant amounts of its military from Russia, and we think that is something that needs to end,” Lutnick said. The nation’s high tariffs and efforts to reduce its use of the U.S. dollar in trade “don’t create the love and affection that we really deeply feel toward India,” he said at the event, India Today Conclave 2025.
“We would like those things to end, and we would like trade to be more fair,” Lutnick said, adding that solving such issues will help both sides reach a deal by fall.
Last month, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Trump agreed to work toward an early trade deal this year and signaled plans to boost trade between the two countries to $500 billion by 2030, up from $127 billion in 2023.
In the recent weeks, India has lowered duties on imports of bourbon and high-end motorcycles, and also agreed to enhance market access for the U.S. industrial goods. India also pledged to buy more weapons, oil and gas from the U.S. to lessen the imbalance in bilateral commerce.
Lutnick on Friday called for India to open up its agriculture sector, a deeply politically sensitive sector in India, saying that quotas or limits might be possible to allow U.S. imports. “You can be smarter when you have the most important trading partner on the other side of the table,” he said.