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‘Not just over Russian oil’: US blames slow pace of trade deal talks, too, for 50% tariffs on India
“I'd thought we'd have a deal in May-June... But they, kind of, tapped us along,” says US treasury secretary Scott Bessent
After US trade tariffs on India hit a massive 50% on Wednesday, US treasury secretary Scott Bessent has argued that the high rates are “not just over [India's purchase of] Russian oil”, but also over how long-drawn the ongoing talks for a trade deal have been.
“I'd thought we'd have a deal in May or June; that India could be one of the earlies deals. But they, kind of, tapped us along,” he said, in an interview to the news outlet Fox Business, just hours after the additional, “penal” 25% for buying crude oil from Russia kicked in.
India has kept its doors open for the talks, but with some red lines on sectors such as farming and smaller manufacturers, HT has reported.
Bessent did add, though: “India is the world’s largest democracy. The US is the world’s largest economy. I think at the end of the day we will come together."
The secretary was responding to a pointed question about India's rebuttal of the argument since others, too, buy oil from Russia despite its war with Ukraine.
He prefaced his answer by saying, “It's a very complicated relationship. President Trump and Prime Minister Modi have a very good relationship,” and then mentioned the pace of the talks. A US delegation cancelled plans to visit New Delhi this week for a sixth round of talks.
Bessent said the Indians had come in for the talks “very early" after "Liberation Day”, referring to Trump's name for April 2 to mark his claimed start of a new era of American economic freedom.
That early start to the talks made the Americans think a deal would be concluded by now, he reasoned.
It was in March that India's commerce minister, Piyush Goyal, visited Washington to meet his counterpart Howard Lutnick; and later that month US officials visited Delhi.
In April, during Vice President JD Vance’s visit, both sides finalised the terms of reference for the bilateral talks.
