Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar. File | Image source: RV Moorthy
Foreign Affairs Secretary S. Jaishankar said on Wednesday (April 9, 2025) that the reciprocal tariffs of U.S. President Donald Trump are not clear and New Delhi’s strategy to deal with this situation is to establish a bilateral trade agreement with Washington.
Trump’s global tariff update on April 9, 2025
In its first detailed response to U.S. tariff policy, Mr. Jashankar said India may be the only country to establish a trade deal with Washington, after Trump’s second presidency.
The foreign minister’s remarks came hours after Mr. Trump’s massive tariffs on about five countries, including India, triggered huge trade disruptions and fear of a global recession.
“BTA to Fall 2025”
India is one of the countries with a cautious attitude toward potential earthquake action, saying it has been involved with the Trump administration in relation to the Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA).
Mr. Jaishankar is News 18 The rising Bharat summit.
“We decided that we will interact with the Trump administration as early as possible on this set of issues, and we are very open to them, like them, like them, we agree to try to negotiate a bilateral trade agreement by this fall,” he said.
After a speech between Washington, D.C. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Mr. Trump in February, both sides announced the negotiations on the first batch of BTAs by the fall of 2025.
“I think we are the only country since President Trump took office for the second time, and that has actually reached understanding in principle,” Mr. Jaishankar said.
“Our strategy has goals”
He said that every country in the world today is developing its own strategy to deal with the United States, and India’s goal is to reach a trade agreement with the Trump administration.
“In our case, our strategy has a goal. The goal is to see if it is possible to actually deal with this situation by reaching a bilateral trade agreement. I should add in an interesting way that has always been our goal.”
Mr Jaishankar said the “current situation” may have created a situation for such a serious dialogue on the trade agreement.
“But if you look at President Trump’s first term, we’re actually negotiating a trade deal that can’t be decisive, and if people even look at Biden’s administration, we talk about trade possibilities and we end up with the IPEF initiative.”
In line with Washington’s long-term vision for the Indo-Pacific, then-U.S. President Joe Biden launched the ambitious Indo-Pacific Prosperity Framework (IPEF) in May 2022.
This is a deeper collaboration between like-minded countries in areas such as clean energy, supply chain resilience and digital trade.
“them [the Biden administration] Unwilling to reach a bilateral agreement. From an Indian perspective, actually bilateral exercise with the United States is not a negative or unnecessary situation at all. ” said Mr Jaishankar.
Instead, he added, that has always been our goal.
publishing – April 9, 2025 03:16 pm ist
