US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has sharpened his criticism of key trading partners, saying that countries such as India and Brazil must “react correctly” to the United States by opening their markets and avoiding policies that harm American interests.
“We have a bunch of countries to fix — like Switzerland, Brazil, like India. These are countries that need to really react correctly to America,” Lutnick said during an interview with NewsNation. “They need to open their markets and stop taking actions that harm America.”
The comments mark an escalation in Lutnick’s ongoing critique of India’s trade and energy policies, which he has previously described as “bravado” in response to tariffs imposed by Donald Trump
Just days earlier, Lutnick said that India’s defiance in trade talks was largely symbolic and predicted that New Delhi would return to the negotiating table “in a month or two,” adding that Indian businesses would eventually press Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government to make a deal with Washington.
“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 told Bloomberg.
{{/usCountry}}“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 told Bloomberg.
{{/usCountry}}The US official has also criticized India’s surging purchases of discounted Russian crude oil since the Ukraine invasion, calling it “plain wrong” and “ridiculous.” He stressed that India needs to decide “which side it wants to be on.”
Lutnick framed the issue in stark economic terms, reminding countries that the United States remains the world’s largest consumer market. “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.
The pointed remarks come amid heightened tensions between Washington and New Delhi over trade barriers, energy purchases, and tariffs.