Mumbai (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar stated on Saturday that trade talks with the US are ongoing, but New Delhi must safeguard certain lines, just days ahead of the implementation of significant additional US tariffs, Reuters reported.
Indian goods are subject to extra American tariffs of up to 50%, the highest by the US, owing to India’s increased Russian oil imports. Moreover, a 25% tariff is already in place, with the remaining 25% scheduled to take effect from August 27.
What redlines is India defending in trade negotiations?
At an Economic Times forum event in New Delhi, Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said,
“We have some redlines in the negotiations, to be maintained and defended,”
highlighting the interests of the Indian agriculturalists and small producers.
“It is our right to make decisions in our ‘national interest’,”
Jaishankar expressed, referring to Trump’s policy announcements 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 said.
Why does India reject US concerns on russian oil imports?
Jaishankar stated that concerns from the US about India’s Russian oil imports are not being similarly applied to other large buyers like China and the European Union.
“If the argument is oil, then there are (other) big buyers. If argument is who is trading more (with Russia), than there are bigger traders,”
Jaishankar said. He added that trade between Russia and Europe exceeds that between India and Russia.
The minister also mentioned that India did not increase its Russian oil imports during previous trade discussions with the U.S., prior to the public announcement of tariffs.
Why did earlier India-US negotiations collapse?
The trade negotiations, which have been ongoing since February 2025, have hit a deadlock. Moreover, the U.S. trade negotiators’ scheduled visit to New Delhi from August 25-29 has been cancelled, crushing hopes that the tariffs might be reduced or delayed.
Earlier this year, India-U.S. trade negotiations fell apart because India refused to open its large agricultural and dairy sectors. The bilateral trade volume between these two economies, the largest and the fifth-largest in the world, exceeds $190 billion.
