'Modi didn't call': Trump aide's big claim on why India-US deal fell through

With trade negotiations between India and the US still underway, a key close aide of US President Donald Trump has made a big claim on why a possible deal between the two countries fell through. US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick has said that he "set a deal up", but it couldn't get finalised as Prime Minister Narendra Modi “didn't call” Donald Trump.

"It's all set up, but I said I gotta have Modi call the President...they were uncomfortable doing it, so Modi didn't call," Lutnick said during a podcast interview with entrepreneur Chamath Palihapitiya, recalling the negotiations.

Lutnick later said that India and the US were very close to finalising a deal but New Delhi was "on the wrong side of the see-saw".

Lutnick also said that the US did several deals with countries like Indonesia, Vietnam and Philippines in the coming week, but the one with India was supposed to happen even before that. "India's (deal) was gonna be done before them (the other countries). I negotiated with them at a higher rate," Lutnick said.

The Trump aide's remarks come days after Trump hinted at hiking the existing tariffs on India if didn't help with the “Russian oil issue".

“India wanted to make me happy. Modi is a very good guy and he knew I was not happy. And it was important to make me happy. We can raise tariffs on them very quickly,” Trump recently said.

The US imposed 50% tariffs on India back in August last year, citing New Delhi's oil trade with Moscow. The US administration has since been trying to use the hefty duties to get India to stop its energy trade with Russia.

However, India has always maintained that its energy deals are governed by what's on offer in the markets and the needs of the Indian consumer. Back in October, union minister Piyush Goyal even clarified that there was no question of negotiating a deal under momentary pressure.

Goyal said India was open to discussions but not to deadlines. “We are talking to the United States, of course, but we don’t do deals in a hurry, and we don’t do deals with deadlines or with a gun on our head,” he had said.

Under the 'Sanctioning Russia Act of 2025', Trump “must” increase the tariffs to “at least 500 percent” for “all goods and services imported into the United States from countries that knowingly engage in the exchange of Russian-origin uranium and petroleum products".

The bill aims to exert pressure on Russia to stop its offensive in Ukraine by threatening Moscow's trading partners with heavy duties.