Imran Masood slams US-India trade deal, cites rising inflation

Congress MP Imran Masood slammed the US-India interim trade deal, arguing it fuels inflation and harms national interests. Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended the pact, highlighting 'tremendous progress' towards an agreement.

Congress MP Imran Masood on Sunday said that the Interim Deal framework with the United States is not in India's interest and said the government's priority should be tackling inflation. He referred to the supply chain disruptions caused by the West Asia crisis and the US decisions taken in the recent past, including on tariffs.

'Blow to India's Interests'

"I don't know what Marco Rubio is up to, but the deals India has made with the US are a blow to India's interests and the people of India. India is a developing country, the people of India are poor, and if inflation hits the people of India, it will be very bad. Inflation has already started hitting them, and the biggest reason behind all of that is the US," Imran Masood said.

US-India 'On the Verge' of Trade Agreement

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is on a four-day visit to India. Rubio said on Sunday that the United States and India are "on the verge" of reaching a trade agreement, adding that both sides have made "tremendous progress" in talks aimed at rebalancing trade ties between the two countries.

Addressing a joint press conference with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in New Delhi, Rubio dismissed suggestions that the India-US relationship had lost momentum and said trade discussions were part of a broader global effort by the US administration to address trade imbalances.

"The US-India relationship has not lost any momentum," Rubio said.

'Not Targeted at India'

He said the trade push by the Donald Trump administration was not specifically targeted at India but part of a wider review of America's trade arrangements globally. "The President did not say 'Let's figure out a way to create friction with India over trade.' The President came in and said, 'We have a trade situation involving the US economy that doesn't work moving forward. There's a huge imbalance that's built up, and it needs to be addressed'," Rubio said.

He added, "There is virtually no country in the world that I could travel to that isn't going to raise the issue of trade because we did this from a global perspective."

Highlighting India's growing economic importance, Rubio described India as a "massive economy" and one of America's key trade partners. "The difference is that India is a massive economy. This is a big economy where you're the leading trade partner. We do a lot of trade with India," he said.

Interim Agreement Framework

The United States and India announced in February this year that they have reached a framework for an Interim Agreement regarding reciprocal and mutually beneficial trade. The framework reaffirmed the countries' commitment to the broader US-India Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) negotiations, launched by US President Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 13, 2025, which, the two countries said, will include additional market access commitments and support more resilient supply chains.

According to the Joint Statement, "India intends to purchase USD 500 billion of US energy products, aircraft and aircraft parts, precious metals, technology products, and coking coal over the next five years."

"India and the United States will significantly increase trade in technology products, including Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) and other goods used in data centres, and expand joint technology cooperation," the statement added. (ANI)

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