Mumbai – Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar announced on Saturday that trade talks with the US are ongoing, emphasizing New Delhi’s need to safeguard specific interests just days before the implementation of significant new US tariffs, reports 24brussels.
Indian products face additional US tariffs of up to 50%, marking the highest rate imposed by the US, due to India’s increasing imports of Russian oil. Currently, a 25% tariff is already in effect, with another 25% set to be implemented on August 27.
What redlines is India defending in trade negotiations?
During an Economic Times forum in New Delhi, Jaishankar stated,
“We have some redlines in the negotiations, to be maintained and defended,”
underscoring the importance of protecting the interests of Indian agriculturalists and small producers.
“It is our right to make decisions in our ‘national interest’,”
Jaishankar described Trump’s policy pronouncements as “unusual.”
“We have not had a U.S. president who conducts his foreign policy so publicly as the current one and (it) is a departure from the traditional way of conducting business with the world,”
he noted.
Why does India reject US concerns on Russian oil imports?
Jaishankar asserted that the US concerns regarding India’s Russian oil imports are not equally applied to other significant buyers like China and the European Union.
“If the argument is oil, then there are (other) big buyers. If the argument is who is trading more (with Russia), than there are bigger traders,”
Jaishankar added, noting that trade between Russia and Europe surpasses that of India and Russia.
The minister further indicated that India had not increased its Russian oil imports amidst prior trade discussions with the US, prior to the public announcement about the tariffs.
Why did earlier India-US negotiations collapse?
The current trade negotiations, which have been ongoing since February 2025, have reached a stalemate. The scheduled visit of US trade negotiators to New Delhi from August 25-29 has been canceled, dampening hopes for any reduction or delay of tariffs.
The earlier collapse of India-US trade negotiations was primarily due to India’s refusal to open its sizable agricultural and dairy sectors. The total trade volume between these economies, the largest and fifth-largest in the world, exceeds $190 billion.
