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‘It’s all bravado': US Commerce Secretary on India's response to Trump tariffs
Howard Lutnick said that eventually, the businesses in India will ask the government to make a deal with the US.
US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said on Friday that India's response to the retaliatory tariffs imposed by Donald Trump is all “bravado” as it “feels good to fight with the biggest client in the world”, which referring to the United States.
He added that with time, the businesses in India will ask the government to make a deal with the US.
“So I think what happens is it's all bravado, because you think it feels good to fight with the biggest client in the world, but eventually your businesses are going to say you've got to stop this and go make a deal with America,” Lutnick said in an interview with Bloomberg on Friday.
‘India is going to be at the table in a month or two’
He also made a big claim that India will restart trade negotiations with Donald Trump in “a month or two”.
Also read: India going to be at the table in a month or two 'saying sorry': US Commerce Secretary on trade deal
"So, I think yes, in a month or two months, I think India is going to be at the table, and they're going to say they're sorry, and they're going to try to make a deal with Donald Trump,” Lutnick told Bloomberg.
"And it will be on Donald Trump's desk how he wants to deal with (Narendra) Modi, and we leave that to him. That's why he's the President,” he added.
Earlier in the day, Trump took to his social media platform Truth Social and shared a picture of Prime Minister Modi, along with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping and wrote, “Looks like we’ve lost India and Russia to deepest, darkest, China. May they have a long and prosperous future together!”
On being asked whether India is being “unfairly” singled out for purchasing oil from Russia, when China and European countries are also doing so, Lutnick said that before Russia's invasion of Ukraine, India was buying less than two per cent of its oil from Russia, however, now, that number has gone up to “40%”.
“What they're doing is, because the oil is sanctioned, it's really, really cheap because the Russians are trying to find people to buy it. And so the Indians have just decided, ‘Ah, the heck with it. Let's buy it cheap and make a ton of money’,” he said, adding that it is “plain wrong” and “ridiculous”.
Lutnick added that India needs to decide which side it wants to be on.
Also read: ‘We will be buying it’: FM Sitharaman on Russian oil imports despite US tariffs
‘Customer is always right’
The US Commerce Secretary also said that while both India and China sell to the United States, they are “not going to be able to sell to each other”, adding that the US is the consumer of the world.
“We are the consumer of the world. People have to remember, it's our $30 trillion economy that is the consumer of the world. So eventually they all have to come back to the customer, because we all know eventually the customer is always right,” he said.
