US Vice-President J D Vance has called Prime Minister Narendra Modi a "tough negotiator" and accused New Delhi of taking advantage of America, while predicting that India could be among the first countries to strike a trade deal to avert reciprocal tariffs.
In an interview with Fox News on Thursday, Vance said "good negotiations" were now on with India on tariffs.
India is among the countries negotiating with the US to avoid the high import taxes, most of them on pause right now, announced by President Donald Trump.
"Modi, the Prime Minister, is a tough negotiator, but we're going to rebalance that relationship, and that's why the president's doing what he's doing," Vance said during the interview.
"Is India the first deal coming through?" Vance was asked in the interview on Fox News's 'Special Report'.
"I don't know if it'll be your first deal, I think it would be among the first deals for sure. Pretty soon the President look, we've got negotiations with Japan, with Korea, we've got negotiations going on with some folks in Europe, and obviously we've got a good negotiation going on in India," Vance replied.
US President Trump announced sweeping reciprocal tariffs on a number of countries, including India and China, on April 2. However, on April 9, he announced a 90-day suspension of these tariffs until July 9 this year, except for those on China and Hong Kong, as about 75 countries approached America for trade deals.
However, the 10 per cent baseline tariff imposed on the countries on April 2 remains in effect, besides the 25 per cent duties on steel, aluminium, and auto components.
"What the President has said is, we just want to rebalance trade. So some of the conversations I've had in India, for example, I think most Americans may not know, may not appreciate this, we have great agricultural products."
"Our farmers are making great things, but the Indian market is effectively closed off to American farmers. So what that means is that it makes American farmers and American consumers more reliant on foreign competitors to grow the food that we eat."
"What our India deal will do, fundamentally, I think, is open up India to American technology. It will open up India to American farmers. It will create more good American jobs. And it's the kind of trade deal that Donald Trump loves."
"He's not anti-trade. He's anti-unfair trade. He's not entirely the kind of trade where foreign competitors take advantage of us, the Indians, let's be honest, they've taken advantage of us for a very long time," Vance said.
New Delhi and Washington are now holding negotiations to seal a bilateral trade agreement as agreed during PM Modi's talks with Trump in Washington DC in February. The trade pact is expected to address a variety of issues including tariff and market access.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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