US Cut Tariffs, So They Announced It 1st: Piyush Goyal On Opposition Attacks

The trade deal with the US that came through after many hiccups and months of negotiations is the "best in the neighbourhood", Commerce and Industry Minister minister Piyush Goyal said today. He also slammed the Opposion, especially Rahul Gandhi, for their criticism of the deal, questioning if the Congress leader resented the country's progress.

Goyal criticised Gandhi over claims that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had accepted the India-US trade deal under pressure. "Rahul Gandhi wants to mislead the public, he does not care about India's progress," the minister said.

At a press conference in Delhi this evening, Goyal said, "Rahul Gandhi ko kya mirchi lagti hai? (What is Rahul Gandhi's problem)". The Leader of the Opposition Lok Sabha "will have to answer to the people about what he wants to achieve with his negative mentality," he said.

"I saw some opposition leaders asking, 'Why did Donald Trump announce the deal?' The US imposed reciprocal tariffs on India, so it should have announced the removal," he added.

Earlier today, Rahul Gandhi had claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had signed the deal as he was "compromised" and "under pressure".

"Modiji is scared. Everyone saw that the trade deal was on hold for four months; nothing has changed... There is pressure on Narendra Modi ji, and the balloon of an image that he has created with thousands of crores can burst soon," Gandhi told reporters outside parliament complex after he was not allowed to raise the Ladakh issue in the house.

Other opposition parties have described the deal as disproportionately beneficial to the US and not in India's interest.

The deal was announced yesterday -- first by US President Donald Trump and then by Prime Minister Narendra Modi who thanked him. 

While the fine print is yet to be made public, Trump, in a post on his social media account Truth Social, said India and the US have "agreed to a Trade Deal" under which the US will cut reciprocal tariff from 25 per cent to 18 per cent. 

This is one of the lowest tariffs the US has announced for competing economies and way lower than India's neighbours -- including China and Pakistan -- are paying. China is currently paying 37 per cent Bangladesh 20 per cent and Pakistan 19 per cent. Developed economies like the EU, Japan, South Korea, and the UK enjoy even lower rates.

Goyal said the deal will protect India's interests in the agriculture and dairy sector and will open new markets in labour-intensive sectors like textile, gems & jewellery, auto components, engineering goods, and other MSME sectors.

While Trump claimed that the deal will be accompanied by India putting a stop to the purchase of Russian oil, neither India nor the US has issued any details on when it would come into effect. 

Later, Kremlin said it had not heard from India about halting Russian energy purchases.