India is keen on tariff talks with the United States, but it is expected to stand its ground even as their bilateral relations sour on issues ranging from trade to foreign policy.
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In the face of the 50 per cent tariff imposed on Indian goods, Delhi is neither “desperate nor cornered”, according to analysts.
Signalling a hardening of America’s position on the tariff issue, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said on Friday that he expected New Delhi to say “sorry” and cut a deal with Washington.
By then, Indian businesses would have realised they could not thrive without the US, Lutnick argued, calling India’s decision to buy oil from Russia “ridiculous”.
“In a month or two months, I think India is going to be at the table, and they are going to say they are sorry, and they are going to try to make a deal with Donald Trump,” Lutnick said, adding that with America’s US$30 trillion economy, “we all know eventually the customer is always right”.
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Last month, US President Donald Trump ordered a 25 per cent tariff on goods from India on top of the previously announced 25 per cent levy, as a penalty for importing Russian oil.
Ian Hall, an international relations professor at Australia’s Griffith University, said while India was likely to keep negotiating for a deal as it had done since February, it would not want one “on any terms”.