The US on Friday pitched for a macro, large and grand trade agreement with India, and not ‘product-by-product’ arrangement to boost bilateral ties between the two countries.

US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick said India needs to open its agriculture market, emphasising that it can not be ‘off the table’ when the country is negotiating with its largest trading partner.

“Because India is so gigantic, and the US is so gigantic, the right way to do it (trade pact) is a macro, and that’s why we think we can get it done. The US is interested in doing a macro, large-scale, broad-based trade agreement with India that takes everything into account and that I think it can be done.

“...it’s time to do something big, something grand, something that connects India and the US together, but does it on a broad scale, not product-by-product, but rather the whole thing. Let’s bring India’s tariff policy towards America down,” he said at the India Today Conclave.

In the agriculture sector, he said the Indian agriculture market has to open up, and it can not just stay closed.

“Now, how do you do that? And the scale by which you do that? Maybe you do quarters. Maybe do limits. You can be smarter when you have your most important trading partner on the other side of the table. You can’t just say...it’s off the table. That’s just not an attractive way of doing business,” Lutnick said.

The right way to do business is to put everything on the table, but do it smartly and do it thoughtfully, he said.

Commerce minister Piyush Goyal is in Washington since Monday for the trade talks with US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Lutnick. Lutnick also said that countries like India have one of the highest tariffs in the world, and that is why US President Donald Trump is talking about imposing reciprocal tariffs.

Trump had on Thursday repeated his criticism of India’s high tariffs, indicating the country remains a target of reciprocal duties set to take effect April 2 even as New Delhi expressed its hope on deepening of India-US two-way trade across the goods and services sector

“India’s a very high tariff nation,” said the US President during an Oval Office event before referring to upcoming reciprocal tariffs “the big one” among the many new duties he has pledged.

Trump’s remarks — a reiteration of what he said on Tuesday while announcing the reciprocal tariffs — were his latest attack on India’s trade barriers.

On Thursday, Trump also criticised China and Canada.

While India has maintained a dovish position even after Trump’s declaration of tariff war, the Chinese establishment has not minced words.