New Delhi: The Congress on Tuesday criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi as US trade discussions intensify, saying he should stop “appeasing his good friend” President Donald Trump and warning India against entering a trade agreement it views as heavily one-sided.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh urged New Delhi to take its cue from Malaysia, which recently spurned a proposed deal with the US after a US Supreme Court ruling. He pointed out that US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer is in New Delhi for meetings scheduled today and tomorrow.
Ramesh recalled that an India‑US joint statement on trade was issued on February 6, 2026, following a Modi‑Trump exchange — a move he said was prompted by pressure on the prime minister after Rahul Gandhi’s parliamentary revelations about his posture on China. “The US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer is in New Delhi today and tomorrow. On the request of PM Modi, while he was under pressure from Rahul Gandhi’s expose in Parliament of his cowardice in front of China, an India-US Joint statement on trade was issued on February 6, 2026,” Ramesh said on X.
“The US promised to reduce tariffs on Indian exports from 25% to 18%.”
He said India had agreed to eliminate or sharply cut duties on US agricultural and industrial goods and to raise purchases from the US to up to USD 500 billion over five years.
Ramesh pointed to a February 20, 2026, US Supreme Court ruling that he said found President Trump’s reciprocal tariff strategy unlawful, which effectively wiped out the tariff concessions offered in the February joint statement. “The Supreme Court of the US ruled that President Trump’s reciprocal tariff strategy was illegal. The very tariff concession that the US had offered India in the February 6, 2026, joint statement effectively disappeared overnight,” he said.
Short-Term Tariff Move
He added that within hours of the court decision the US imposed a temporary 10% tariff on imports from all trading partners, including India, and that the legal basis for the measure expires on July 24, 2026, leaving the path ahead uncertain. “Within hours of the US Supreme Court ruling the US imposed a temporary 10% tariff on all its trading partners including India. The legal basis for this expires on July 24, 2026. There is considerable uncertainty on what will happen thereafter,” Ramesh said.
Ramesh warned that the US is probing India and about 60 other countries for alleged unfair trade practices under US law, with final determinations expected soon. He accused Washington of using the investigation to coerce India into formally acceding to the February 6 agreement. “However, India along with about 60 other countries is under investigation by the US for unfair trade practices that supposedly violate US laws”, he said, adding that final outcomes from this investigation are expected in the coming weeks.
The US is clearly using this investigation as a threat to get India to formally sign the agreement as announced on February 6, 2026, he said.
Ramesh described the proposed pact as skewed in America’s favour, warning of harm to farmers across states and alleging the US offers few firm commitments while expecting India to significantly increase imports.
“Such an agreement is not a deal but a steal by the US. Indian farmers in different states that include J&K, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Maharashtra will be very adversely impacted. The US makes very little firm commitments whereas India commits to at least trebling its present levels of annual imports from the US,” Ramesh said.
Firm Warning
“There is absolutely no need for India to be bamboozled into signing any trade agreement which as it stands now is heavily against India’s interests,” Ramesh said.
“PM Modi must stop appeasing his good friend President Trump, who has claimed that he halted Operation Sindoor over a 100 times and is yet to be challenged by Mr Modi on that claim,” the Congress leader said.
Greer’s visit is aimed at advancing talks on the interim trade accord announced by Modi and Trump in February. The leaders met last week on the sidelines of the G7 summit in France, where Trump said the two countries were close to finalising the agreement.
