India Slams US Commerce Sec. Lutnick's Claim: Modi Ignored Trump Calls? MEA Reveals 8 Chats, Deal Near Multiple Times
Earlier, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said New Delhi had missed several chances to sign the accord and that Prime Minister Narendra Modi “did not call US President Trump” after the deal had been negotiated.
Aadrika Tayal 
New Delhi (India) January 9: India on Friday refuted the statement from US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick that the trade deal with Washington hadn’t been finalized as PM Narendra Modi did not bother to call US President Donald Trump, arguing that the two leaders had spoken on eight occasions.
The characterization of negotiations in recent statements by a senior US official was “not accurate,” the Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.
Modi-Trump Talked: Busting the "No Call" Myth
The MEA also said it was complying with the U.S. Russian Sanctions Bill, which mandates as much as 500 percent in tariffs. In a comment on Lutnick’s claims to a podcast that he had attributed to New Delhi for the delay of the US-India trade deal and that the States had waited too long for PM Modi to deliver his call, Jaiswal dismissed the claims as “inaccurate characterizations.”
The two countries had negotiated for several rounds and, on multiple occasions a “deal was close,” he said.
Jaiswal said, “We have seen the remarks. India and the U.S. were committed to negotiating a bilateral trade agreement with the U.S. as far back as February 13 last year. Since then, the two sides have held multiple rounds of negotiation to arrive at a balanced and mutually beneficial trade agreement. On several occasions, we have been close to a deal. The characterisation of these discussions in the reported remarks is not accurate. We remain interested in a mutually beneficial trade deal between two complementary economies and look forward to concluding it.”
Lutnick's Podcast Bombshell: "Modi Must Call Trump to Close"
In the All In podcast, Lutnick said he’d recommended that Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally get in touch with Donald Trump to discuss and agree the deal. He said New Delhi was being reluctant to make that move and thus “so Modi didn't call.”
He said, "Let's be clear, it's his deal. He's the closer. He does the deal. So I said, you got to have Modi. It's all set up. You have to have Modi...they were uncomfortable doing it.”
US Slaps 500% Tariffs on Russian Oil Buyers Like India
This comes after the US President on Thursday, who approved a bill that will impose at least 500 per cent tariffs on countries that import Russian oil to try to "punish them."
US senator Lindsey Graham said the bill would give the US tremendous leverage against countries such as China, India and Brazil by incentivizing them to cease purchasing cheap Russian oil.
