Narendra Modi-Donald Trump
US Commerce Secretary Howard Latnick has claimed that the trade deal between America and India could not be done because Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not call US President Donald Trump. In an interview with American investor Chamath Palihapitiya as part of the All-In podcast, Latnik said that simply put, this was Trump’s deal. He is the one who seals the deal. Everything was ready, all Modi had to do was call the President. They were feeling uncomfortable doing so. That’s why Modi did not call. Next week we signed agreements with Indonesia, Philippines and Vietnam and announced many deals.
In July 2025, the US completed tariff negotiations with the European Union, United Kingdom, Japan, Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines and South Korea. According to Latnik’s recent statement, the countries that agreed to end the negotiations early got the benefit of lower tariffs. However, the sequence and rates of the tariff agreements signed in the same month do not completely match Latnik’s claim. For example, Vietnam, which was the first to conclude negotiations, still pays the highest tariffs on its exports to the US.
This much tariff has been imposed on India
Currently, India’s exports to America face 50% tariff, which is the highest in Asia. The US Commerce Secretary said that we negotiated with India and had assumed that India would make the deal with other Asian countries first, hence a higher rate was negotiated. The problem was that the deal was done at a higher rate, and then India stepped back and said okay, now we are ready. I asked, ready for what? He further said that this was about three weeks later. I asked, are you ready for the train that left the station three weeks ago?
Trump had also earlier said that he had hoped that the tariff deal with India would be the easiest, but it did not happen. After Trump became President again, PM Modi was one of the first leaders to visit America. Despite this, India adopted a tough stance towards America’s demands. In May, India rejected Trump’s repeated claims of interfering in India-Pakistan tensions. Despite several rounds of talks and four talks between the two leaders, relations between the two countries remain tense and the bilateral trade agreement is still incomplete.