- India-US agreement is an interim framework, not a final bilateral trade deal, P Chidambaram alleged
- No official deal document or Section 232 investigation details have been publicly shared, he said
- Chidambaram also said foreign minister S Jaishankar was reportedly unaware of the agreement details
Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram argued today that what India and the US have arrived at is not a deal but an interim agreement that is being "celebrated as a Bilateral Trade Agreement". Questioning the absence of any deal document signed by both sides in public domain in an exclusive interview with NDTV, he said, "What has been made available to us is only a joint statement issued by the White House... I can go by only the joint statement. And reading the joint statement, I say it is heavily tilted, tilted in favor of the United States".
He also said the Section 232 investigation has not been made public either. "So without these documents and details about the investigation, what do you make out of the joint statement? The only conclusion I can arrive at, it is a framework for an interim agreement, which may lead potentially to a final agreement," he added.
Asked what he would prefer the government to do, he said, "Why is the government shy of disclosing the orders passed by President Trump... The government should tell us what those orders are".
"Why is the government shy of disclosing what is the section 232 investigation? maybe the government does not know. If the government does not know, why did it issue the joint statement?" he added.
He also scoffed at what has been heralded as a "diplomatic victory" of India.
"What is the diplomatic win? I don't know. Mr. Jaishankar said he knew nothing about the Indo US trade agreement. So if he if the Minister of External Affairs does not know and he does not spell out... How can I agree that it is a diplomatic win?
He also said it was the "asymmetry" in the deal which was a matter of concern for him.
While India has apparently committed to eliminate tariffs or reduce tariffs, the US will keep it at 18 per cent, which will be eliminated or reduced only when there is an interim agreement, he said.
"Prior to April 2025, what were the tariffs? It was about average between two and three per cent. In some items, it may have been a little more... Compared to the pre-April 25 tariffs, this is a huge jump," he said, pointing out that this would apply to all of India's major exports including seafood, leather products and textiles.
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