India rejects US claim on trade deal; says Modi–Trump talks ongoing, negotiations ‘never stalled'

Responding to the comments, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said New Delhi and Washington have been engaged in sustained and detailed negotiations on a bilateral trade pact for more than a year and remain committed to concluding a mutually beneficial agreement.

MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said both sides had agreed as early as February 13 last year to negotiate a trade deal and had since held multiple rounds of talks, at times coming close to a final agreement.

“We have seen the remarks. India and the US were committed to negotiating a bilateral trade agreement as far back as February 13 last year. On several occasions, we have been close to a deal. The characterisation of these discussions in the reported remarks is not accurate,” Jaiswal said.

He stressed that there had been no breakdown in political engagement between the two countries, dismissing suggestions that a lack of communication at the leadership level had stalled the process.

“Incidentally, Prime Minister Modi and President Trump have also spoken on the phone on eight occasions during 2025, covering different aspects of our wide-ranging partnership,” the spokesperson added.

Jaiswal reiterated India’s interest in finalising a trade pact, saying both sides were working towards an outcome that reflects the complementary nature of the two economies.

“We remain interested in a mutually beneficial trade deal between two complementary economies and look forward to concluding it,” he said.

The Indian government’s response came after Lutnick, in an interview on a podcast released on Thursday, claimed that trade negotiations with India did not reach a conclusion even as the US moved ahead with agreements with other countries.

Lutnick said President Trump viewed trade negotiations “like a staircase”, with early movers receiving more favourable terms.

“The first stair gets the best deal. You can’t get the best deal after the first guy,” he said, referring to the recently concluded trade agreement with the United Kingdom.

He claimed that India had been publicly mentioned by Trump as a potential next partner and that US officials had set a tight timeline for New Delhi to conclude talks.

“We were talking with India, and we told India, ‘you have three Fridays’. Well, they have to get it done,” Lutnick said.

According to the US Commerce Secretary, while his department handled the technical aspects of the negotiations, the final political approval rested with President Trump.

“Let’s be clear, it’s his deal. He is the closer. He does the deal,” he said.

Lutnick further claimed that US officials had expected a direct call from Prime Minister Modi to President Trump at the final stage of the negotiations.

“I said, ‘You got to have Modi, it’s all set up, you have to have Modi call the President.’ They were uncomfortable doing it, so Modi didn’t call,” he said.

India, however, has firmly rejected that account, underlining that negotiations have been ongoing and that high-level political communication between the two leaders has remained frequent and substantive.