Ahead of American chief negotiator Brendan Lynch's visit to India, White House trade advisor Peter Navarro on Monday again targeted India over its trade policies.
"Indian refiners were in bed with Russian refiners immediately after the invasion... It's crazy stuff, because they make money off us via unfair trade and many workers get screwed. They use that money to buy Russian oil, and Russians use that to buy weapons," Navarro told CNBC International.
"India is coming to the table. On the trade side, they have very high tariffs," he added.
This comes just as Brendan Lynch, who is the Assistant US Trade Representative for South and Central Asia, is arriving in India on Monday night, September 15. He will hold talks with India's chief negotiator, Rajesh Agrawal, as reported by HT.
Agrawal said that both sides intend to "fast-track" the talks, and confirmed Lynch's one-day visit, but gave no details, according to Reuters.
A visit by the US team was originally scheduled between August 25 and 29, but it was called off amid rising tensions over massive tariffs imposed by the US on Indian products as “penalty” for the country's purchase of Russian oil “funding the Ukraine war”.
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{{/usCountry}}Also Read | US appeal to EU for tariffs over Russian oil amid turnaround of ties with India
{{/usCountry}}Of the tariffs, 25 per cent came into effect in the first week of August as part of a global trade rest by the US; and the additional 25 per cent over the Russian oil kicked in on August 27.
How India-US talks have progressed
It's since March-April that India and the US have been negotiating for an interim trade deal. At one point, the US side said one of the reasons for the “punitive” tariffs was that the talks were taking too long.
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There remain clear reservations from the Indian side on the US demand for opening up its domestic agricultural and dairy sectors to American products. PM Modi has said he would protect farmers' interests. Those red lines will be on focus in the talks that originally aimed to have a pact in place by September; now the aim is to complete a first stage of the agreement by October-November.
India's exports to the US fell to $6.86 billion in August from $8.01 billion in July, though the full impact of higher tariffs would be known next month as the additional tariffs kicked in at the end of August.