"The trade deal is broken..." The US Commerce Minister's statement raises the heartbeat of exporters, raising concerns about trade.:Exporters say that while India is looking for other markets, it has a significant trade presence with the United States, which is a key market for India.

News Topical, Digital Desk : India-US Trade Deal: Negotiations on a trade deal between the US and India are stalled. Meanwhile, last Thursday, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick claimed that talks on a trade deal between India and the US failed to finalize because Prime Minister Narendra Modi refused to personally call US President Donald Trump, and therefore the deal failed to materialize.

Lutnick also said, "We signed agreements with Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines. We had hoped to complete the deal with India before these. The deal was ready, but PM Modi didn't call the President, which hurt his ego and the deal wasn't completed."

India faces the threat of a 500% tariff.

Earlier, US Senator Lindsey Graham announced that President Trump had given the "green light" to the Sanctioning Russia Act. This would pressure countries importing crude oil from Russia at low prices, helping to prevent the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The bill specifically calls for imposing tariffs of up to 500 percent on India, China, and Brazil. Overall, the two countries are currently locked in a dispute over several issues.

India's exports under stress

However, the country's exporters believe that Indian and US officials should sit face to face and resolve the issues so that a mutually beneficial trade agreement can be reached.

They say that the US has already imposed a 50% tariff on India, which is harming both countries. If tariffs increase further, it will deal a significant blow to trade between the US and India. SC Ralhan, president of the Federation of Indian Export Organizations (FIEO), says both sides should continue negotiations for a deal. An exporter in the leather industry said that the US is a major market for India, and a trade agreement will boost the country's exports.

The exporter said, "Although we are looking for new markets, the US is a major market." Another exporter in the engineering field said that the bilateral trade agreement between the two countries will help reduce uncertainties on the trade front.

Think tank GTRI said the impasse in the India-US trade deal reflects difficult policy decisions rather than missed phone calls. Ajay Srivastava, founder of the Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI), said, "It might be an easy story to attribute this delay to personal diplomacy, but it conceals the essential differences that both sides still need to resolve and risks undermining one of the most important trade relationships in the global economy."