Lutnick ‘optimistic’ for US-India deal, urges New Delhi to step back from Brics
The US commerce secretary did not directly mention Beijing but cited de-dollarisation and other efforts by the bloc in Washington speech
US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said he was optimistic that the United States and India would reach a trade agreement soon, but urged New Delhi to open its markets, reduce arms purchases from Moscow, and scale back its alignment with Brics.
“I think India is trying hard to be one of the earlier countries [to reach a trade deal with the US], which I appreciated,” Lutnick said in a keynote speech at an event promoting US-India economic ties in Washington on Monday.
“But what I hope to achieve is we would like market access. We would like our businesses to have reasonable access to the markets of India … We want to have the trade deficit reduced,” he told the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum’s Leadership Summit.
“Now in exchange for that, what India is going to want is … certain key markets … to make sure that they have special access to the American marketplace,” he added.
Despite the ongoing trade saga between China and the US, the official did not mention Beijing, but urged Delhi to distance itself further from Russia and China, citing the Russia-India arms trade and de-dollarisation efforts undertaken by the Brics grouping.
You know I would give credit to US if they can get India to leave BRICS so we don't have to deal with them anymore. But this is why India pisses off everyone because it ultimately commits to nothing when the stakes are high.