Rushed to fall into a trap deal: Congress slams India-US trade agreement

New Delhi: With the US Supreme Court striking down President Donald Trump’s global tariffs, Congress on Saturday asked the government to put on hold the India-US interim trade deal and renegotiate its terms to ensure that the interests of farmers are not hurt, even as top leader Rahul Gandhi claimed that “compromised” Prime Minister Narendra Modi will “surrender again” as he “cannot renegotiate”.

The renewed attack came as the US Supreme Court  in a 6-3 verdict ruled that the tariffs imposed by Trump on nations around the world were illegal even as the US president said the trade deal with India was "alive". The Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha said, “the PM is compromised. His betrayal now stands exposed. He can’t renegotiate. He will surrender again.”

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge questioned why did the government not wait for the US Supreme Court judgement before “rushing to fall into a trap deal, which extracted huge concessions from India”.

He asked Modi to “tell the truth” about “what or who” pressured him into “compromising” national interest and strategic autonomy. “Was it the Epstein Files? Will the government wake up from its deep slumber and deliver a fair trade deal that preserves the self respect of 140 crore Indians and the interest of our farmers, workers, small businesses and traders?” he said.

Congress General Secretary (Communications) Jairam Ramesh said, “the government needs to put the interim agreement on hold. We demand that the PM should categorically state that we will not carry out import liberalisation after the US Supreme Court decision as there is a rethink in India's policy and we will not carry out import liberalisation till clarifications are made.”

Citing the joint statement which made it clear that the US and India agree that they can modify its commitments in the event of any changes from either side, he told reports that the provision in the framework for the interim deal provides a window for New Delhi to renegotiate the deal and eliminate import liberalisation that impacts the farmers.

He also said the government could renegotiate the deal, including on the provision of India importing worth USD 100 billion every year while insisting that even the new 10% tariff, which is less than 18% agreed in the deal, is three times more than the tariff imposed by the US on India before coming up with reciprocal tariff.

Ramesh recalled that Trump had on February 2 made the announcement saying that he is happy that a deal has been reached and on the request of the PM, this is effective immediately. 

"The first question arises is why did the Prime Minister was in a hurry to announce this. We believe that this was connected with Rahul Gandhi's remarks in the Lok Sabha, raising the issue of China and former Army chief Naravane's book. We believe that in order to divert from that, PM Modi requested Trump to announce this," he said.

Posing another question, he asked when Modi and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal knew from December that ) the Supreme Court verdict could come any time amid reports that it could be struck down, why did they hurriedly strike a deal. 

"Trump has also stated that nothing changes for the Indo-US trade deal. So we want to ask the Prime Minister, does he agree with his friend's statement that the verdict will have no impact on the deal," he said.