‘Any trade deal has to work for both countries’: Jaishankar rebuts Trump’s ‘zero tariff’ claim

Responding to U.S. President Donald Trump’s claim that India has offered a trade deal with “basically zero tariffs,” External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Thursday said trade negotiations between New Delhi and Washington are still a work in progress and that no final agreement has been reached yet.

Speaking to reporters, Jaishankar cautioned against jumping to conclusions about the status of the deal.

“Between India and the US, trade talks have been going on, negotiations have been going on. Team is going at this point. These are complicated negotiations. Nothing is decided till everything is. Any trade deal has to be mutually beneficial, any trade deal has to work for both countries. That would be our expectation from the trade deal. Until that is done, any judgment on it would be premature,” the EAM said.


His remarks came hours after President Trump, speaking in Doha during the second leg of his three-nation West Asia tour, claimed that India had made a significant offer to the United States.

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'India offered US a deal': Trump

“India offered US a deal, basically zero tariffs,” Trump, who is currently on a state visit to West Asia, said from Doha.

This isn’t the first time the Republican leader has made bullish remarks on U.S.-India trade ties. On April 30, while addressing a campaign-style event in Michigan, Trump had said, “India tariff talks are going great, think we'll have a deal soon,” expressing optimism about the trajectory of negotiations.

India and the U.S. have been locked in high-stakes discussions for months, attempting to hammer out a trade agreement that addresses market access concerns and tariff disputes on both sides.

The latest proposal from New Delhi, as reported by Reuters on May 9, includes slashing the average tariff differential with the U.S. from about 13% to under 4%. This would represent one of India’s most significant tariff alignments with a major trading partner.

US-India trade talks: What officials have said so far

According to officials involved in the discussions, India has offered to eliminate tariffs on 60% of U.S. goods in the first phase of the deal. In addition, the Modi government has proposed preferential access for nearly 90% of American imports.

In return, New Delhi is seeking broad protection from existing and future U.S. tariff hikes—something that Washington has yet to fully commit to, even in its recent agreements with allies like the United Kingdom.

Earlier, on April 10, the United States offered a temporary 90-day suspension on additional tariffs levied on Indian exports. The reprieve, which remains in effect until July 9, was widely seen as a goodwill gesture aimed at keeping momentum in the trade talks alive.

That move came just a week after Washington unveiled a sweeping tariff overhaul on April 2, imposing blanket duties on imports from nearly 60 countries. India was among the countries hit, with additional duties of up to 26% on products such as seafood and industrial metals like steel.