'Modi didn't call' Trump: On US-India trade deal, Commerce Secretary Lutnick says Delhi ‘on wrong side of see-saw’ | Today News

Prime Minister Narendra Modi “didn't call” US President Donald Trump when it was needed, said US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, in a podcast, as he revealed the reason behind higher tariffs against India and the delay in the US-India trade deal.

Lutnick said in an interview on the All-In podcast that Trump is the deal "closer", but PM Modi didn't call him to discuss the deal on time. Revealing the details, Lutnick said India was given a deadline of "three Fridays."

"We told India you had three Fridays. You put them on a shot clock. Well, they have to get it done because what happens is I have lots of other countries, and when those other countries do their deal, the staircase goes up," Lutnick said.

He added, "He's [Trump] the closer. He does the deal. So I said, "You've got to have Modi. It's all set up. You have to have Modi call the president."

But, "they were uncomfortable doing it. So Modi didn't call. Wow. So that Friday left...," he said.

Lutnick revealed that the following week, a "bunch of deals" were done with Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Malaysia.

The US, however, ad assumed that the deal with India "was going to be done before them" and so, "we negotiated them at a higher rate," Lutnick.

"So, now the problem is that the deals came out at a higher rate, right? And then India calls back and says, "Oh, okay. We were ready.' I said, 'Ready for what?'...it was like three weeks later. I go, 'Are you ready for the train that left the station three weeks ago...," Lutnick recalled.

"What happened is, India, just was you know, was on the wrong side of the see-saw...it was just they couldn't get it done when they needed to...so what happens is, all these other countries kept doing deals and they're [India] just further in the back of the line...," Lutnick said.