Trump: Modi agrees not to buy Russian oil; the U.S. will reduce tariffs on India

On February 2nd, local time, U.S. President Trump posted on the social media platform “Truth Social” that he had a phone call with Indian Prime Minister Modi that morning.

Trump stated that the two sides reached a U.S.-India trade agreement, the so-called “reciprocal tariffs” on U.S. goods to India will be reduced from 25% to 18%, effective immediately. India will also correspondingly lower tariffs and non-tariff barriers on U.S. goods until they reach zero. Trump also said that Modi promised to significantly increase purchases of American products, including over $500 billion worth of U.S. energy, technology, agricultural products, coal, and many other items.

Trump claimed that Modi agreed for India to stop buying Russian oil and to purchase more oil from the U.S., and India may also buy oil from Venezuela.

As of now, the White House has not issued an official statement on this. Modi posted on social media that day confirming that the U.S. agreed to reduce India’s import tariffs on U.S. goods to 18%.

The U.S. government announced on July 31 last year that it would impose a 25% “reciprocal tariff” on Indian goods imported into the U.S., which took effect on August 7 of that year. On August 6, Trump signed an executive order to impose an additional 25% tariff on Indian goods imported into the U.S., citing India’s “direct or indirect import of Russian oil.”

India and the U.S. had promised to begin negotiations around a bilateral trade agreement as early as February last year, but differences in positions, especially regarding crude oil procurement, have prevented the two sides from reaching a trade deal for a long time.

(Source: CCTV News)