New Delhi, Feb 7: The Congress on Saturday took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the interim trade agreement with the US, claiming the deal is stacked heavily against India and all the “huglomacy and photo-ops” have not amounted to much.
Slamming the government, the opposition party cited a White House release which said the US will now monitor whether India is importing oil from Russia, and said “Naam Narender, Kaam Surrender”.
Congress general secretary in charge of communications, Jairam Ramesh, said the US-India joint statement just issued is silent on details.
“But from what has been revealed, it is clear that: India will no longer import oil from Russia. Separately, the US has announced that a 25 per cent penalty could be reimposed if India buys oil directly or indirectly from Russia,” Ramesh said on X.
It has also been revealed that India will slash import duties to help American farmers at the cost of Indian farmers, Ramesh claimed.
“India’s annual imports from the USA will triple, wiping out our longstanding goods trade surplus. There will continue to be great uncertainty on India’s exports of IT and other services to the US. India’s exports of goods to the US will face higher duties than before,” Ramesh said.
“All the hugs and photo-ops have not amounted to much. Namaste Trump has scored over Howdy Modi,” the Congress leader said, adding, “Dost dost na raha”, taking a cue from Mukesh’s iconic song from the 1964 film “Sangam”.
In another post on X, Ramesh said, “The US will now monitor whether India is importing oil from Russia. If the US decides India has imported Russian oil directly or indirectly, the extra 25 per cent tariff penalty is back. This is truly extraordinary. And we have accepted it! Naam Narender, Kaam Surrender.”
Later, speaking with PTI Videos, Ramesh said this (trade pact) is still a statement of intent, as the details have not been announced yet.
“They will be announced, I suppose, in the next few months,” he said.
“Today, we enjoy a trade surplus of about USD 45 billion with America. We have announced that we will buy USD 500 billion more over the next five years, which means imports from America will at least triple – we have committed to importing USD 100 billion for the next five years. Today we enjoy a trade surplus; it could very well become a trade deficit,” Ramesh said.
The Congress leader also said that he feels the deal is stacked very heavily against India.
Trump’s announcement of the deal showed that it was done at India’s request, he claimed.
The Congress leader also alleged that the government was forced to do “headline management” in view of Rahul Gandhi raising the issue of former Army chief M M Naravane’s book.
“The prime minister was flustered; he was nervous in Parliament. He didn’t come to the Lok Sabha. He came to the Rajya Sabha and made a 97-minute election speech in which he targeted only the Congress but didn’t answer any of the questions raised by the opposition.
“For all the huglomacy that Mr Modi has indulged in, all the photo-ops he has got with President Trump, the trade deal is frankly not something that we can say has furthered our interests. We will import more from America, that is 100 per cent certain,” Ramesh said.
India and the US on Saturday announced that they have reached a framework for an interim trade agreement under which both sides will reduce import duties on a number of goods to boost two-way trade.
Commenting on the development, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the agreement will strengthen the ‘Make in India’ initiative by opening up new opportunities for farmers and entrepreneurs, and create jobs for women and youngsters.
The prime minister also thanked US President Donald Trump for his personal commitment to robust ties between India and the US.
“Great news for India and USA! We have agreed on a framework for an Interim Trade Agreement between our two great nations,” Modi said in a post on X.
“It strengthens ‘Make in India’ by opening new opportunities for India’s hardworking farmers, entrepreneurs, MSMEs, startup innovators, fishermen and more. It will generate large-scale employment for women and youngsters,” the prime minister said.
According to the interim trade deal, Trump has removed the 25 per cent tariffs, or additional import duty, imposed on India last August for purchasing Russian oil, citing that the country has undertaken “significant steps” and New Delhi has committed to stop directly or indirectly importing oil from Moscow.
The interim pact will open a USD 30 trillion market for Indian exporters, especially MSMEs, farmers and fishermen, as US duties on Indian goods will come down to 18 per cent from 50 per cent earlier.
According to the joint statement, the two countries will “promptly” implement this framework and work towards finalising the interim agreement with a view to concluding a mutually beneficial Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA).
India will eliminate or reduce tariffs on all US industrial goods and a wide range of American food and agricultural products, including dried distillers’ grains, red sorghum for animal feed, tree nuts, fresh and processed fruit, soybean oil, wine and spirits, and additional products, the statement said. (PTI)
