Trump, team ‘frustrated’ with India over trade talks, says US treasury secretary
United States Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Thursday said that President Donald Trump and his team negotiating the trade agreement with India have been “frustrated” with New Delhi, CNBC reported.
“India came to the table early,” Bessent said in an interview to the news channel. “They’ve been slow rolling things. So I think that the president, the whole trade team has been frustrated with them.”
The treasury secretary said that India had also been a large buyer of sanctioned Russian oil that was then being resold as refined products. “So, you know, they have not been a great global actor,” he added.
Bessent’s comments came a day after Trump announced a 25% tariff on goods imported from India from August 1. Washington had added that India will also have to pay a “penalty” for buying a large portion of its military equipment and fuel from Russia amid the war on Ukraine.
However, he did not specify the quantum of the “penalty”.
Later on Wednesday, however, the US president said that his administration was still negotiating the final tariff rate with India.
“They [India] have one of the highest tariffs in the world now, they’re willing to cut it very substantially,” Trump said during a press briefing. “We are talking to India now, we’ll see what happens…You’ll know by the...
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