By Admin 
US President Donald Trump may further increase tariffs on Indian goods. He is continuously saying that because of buying oil from Russia, they have imposed heavy tariffs on Indian goods. At present 50 percent tariff is applicable on India. However, it has now come to light that Trump’s ego was hurt due to Prime Minister Narendra Modi not calling. US Commerce Minister Howard Lutnick has said that the trade agreement with India could not be done because Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not call Donald Trump.
Howard Lutnick has given this statement at a time when Trump had recently said that PM Modi knew that he was unhappy with India buying Russian oil and America could increase tariffs on India at any time. The US President made this statement during talks on bilateral trade agreement between the two countries. Six rounds of talks have taken place so far on the trade agreement. This agreement includes a framework agreement to resolve the 50 percent duty imposed on Indian goods entering the US.
‘The deal was ready, just had to call PM Modi’, said American minister
Lutnik said in a ‘podcast’ on Thursday (January 8, 2026) that he had requested PM Modi to call the President and finalize the agreement. However, India was feeling uncomfortable in doing so so PM Modi did not call. The Commerce Minister said that America has made trade agreements with Indonesia, Philippines and Vietnam but he was hopeful that the trade agreement with India would be done before these countries.
‘India called later’, US minister told
He said, ‘…we made many agreements with Indonesia, Philippines and Vietnam and also announced them. All these agreements were made at high rates because during the negotiations it was assumed that India would complete the process already… but this did not happen. As a result, the countries with which the first agreements were made were expensive or settled at higher rates. Then later when India contacted (called) and said, ‘Okay, we are ready,’ then I told them – ready for what?’