The Congress on Tuesday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi not to rush into signing the proposed India-US trade agreement, arguing that the deal in its current form is heavily skewed against India's interests. The opposition party's remarks came as US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer arrived in New Delhi for discussions on the interim trade pact announced earlier this year.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh alleged that the Modi government was under pressure to conclude the agreement despite growing uncertainty over the tariff concessions promised by the United States.
"The US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer is in New Delhi today and tomorrow. On the request of PM Modi, while he was under pressure from Rahul Gandhi's expose in Parliament of his cowardice in front of China, an India-US Joint statement on trade was issued on February 6, 2026," Ramesh said on X.
"The US promised to reduce tariffs on Indian exports from 25% to 18%. India promised to eliminate its tariffs or reduce them deeply on US agricultural commodities and industrial products and purchase up to USD 500 billion from the US over five years," he said.
Ramesh noted that the trade framework announced in February had been undermined by a subsequent ruling of the US Supreme Court.
He pointed out that on February 20, 2026, the Supreme Court of the US ruled that President Trump's reciprocal tariff strategy was illegal.
The tariff concessions offered to India under the February 6 joint statement effectively ceased to exist after the ruling, he claimed.
"Within hours of the US Supreme Court ruling the US imposed a temporary 10% tariff on all its trading partners including India. The legal basis for this expires on July 24, 2026. There is considerable uncertainty on what will happen thereafter," Ramesh said.
He further claimed that India, along with around 60 other countries, is currently under investigation by the US for alleged unfair trade practices, with the findings expected in the coming weeks.
The US is clearly using this investigation as a threat to get India to formally sign the agreement as announced on February 6, 2026, he said.
"Such an agreement is not a deal but a steal by the US. Indian farmers in different states that include J&K, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Maharashtra will be very adversely impacted. The US makes very little firm commitments whereas India commits to at least trebling its present levels of annual imports from the US," Ramesh said.
Referring to Washington's trade dealings with other partners, the Congress leader argued that even existing agreements do not guarantee protection from future tariff actions.
Despite having trade agreements with Japan and the EU, the US has threatened increased tariffs on them, he said.
Even if a deal is signed, what and where is the guarantee that tariffs will not be unilaterally imposed or threatened to be imposed thereafter, Ramesh asked.
"There is absolutely no need for India to be bamboozled into signing any trade agreement which as it stands now is heavily against India's interests," Ramesh said.
"PM Modi must stop appeasing his good friend President Trump, who has claimed that he halted Operation Sindoor over a 100 times and is yet to be challenged by Mr. Modi on that claim," the Congress leader said.
Greer is visiting India to advance negotiations on the interim trade deal agreed upon by Prime Minister Modi and US President Donald Trump in February.
Trump and Modi met on the sidelines of the G7 summit in France last week, where the US president said the two countries were very close to finalising the trade agreement.
