US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent remained optimistic about an eventual reconciliation between the US and India as additional punitive tariffs of 25 per cent on Indian goods kicked in on Wednesday.
“India is the world’s largest democracy, US is the world’s largest economy ... I think at the end of the day we will come together,” Bessent said in an interview with Fox Business.
“This is a very complicated relationship, President Trump and Prime Minister Modi have a very good relationship at that level, and it’s not just over the Russian oil,” he added.
Bessent recalled that India was keen to conclude a trade deal quite early on in the negotiations, which eventually stalled over India’s unwillingness to open up their core markets to US companies and its continuous purchase of Russian crude oil.
“The Indians came in early after Liberation Day to start negotiating on tariffs and we still don’t have a deal. I thought we would have a deal in May or June. I thought India could be one of the earlier deals and they kind of tapped us along in terms of the negotiations and then there is also the aspect of the Russian crude purchases, which they’ve been profiteering on. There’s many levels going on here,” he said.
Earlier this month, White House Trade Adviser Peter Navarro had also accused India of running a “profiteering scheme” by importing discounted Russian crude and exporting refined products at premium rates.
External affairs minister S Jaishankar had responded bluntly, saying, “If you have a problem with India buying oil or refined products from Russia, don’t buy from us. Nobody forces you. Europe buys, America buys, so if you don’t like it, don’t buy it.”
India’s pushback over tariffs was deemed “performative” by Bessent, who reiterated the US’s position as a deficit country, which the Trump administration has been trying to remedy.
“When there is a schism in trade relationships, the deficit country is at an advantage. So it’s the surplus country that should worry, the Indians are selling to us and they have very high tariffs,” Bessent said.
On Monday, PM Narendra Modi asserted he could not compromise on the interests of farmers, cattle-rearers, small-scale industries, cautioning that “pressure on us may increase, but we will bear it”.