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Congress targeted Modi government, Jairam Ramesh said – US trade agreement is proof of ‘this time defeat by Trump’

By Sandy Verma

New Delhi. Taking aim at the Modi government at the Center over the interim US trade agreement, the Congress on Sunday said that the agreement symbolizes “defeat from Trump this time”. In view of the confusion created by the US Supreme Court’s decision to cancel President Donald Trump’s global tariff, it should be put on the back burner. Congress general secretary in charge of communications Jairam Ramesh said the terms of the interim agreement framework should be renegotiated and the clause related to import liberalisation, especially of agricultural products, should be removed. Ramesh said that the agreement is based on give and take, but India has given only under interim trade agreement. Ramesh asked what happened on February 2 that the Prime Minister had to ‘force’ President Trump to announce the trade agreement?

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Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said that the most important change is to stop import liberalisation. The promised reduction in imports will impact farmers of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Maharashtra in the first phase on crops like cotton, soybean, maize, fruits and dry fruits. What is the definition of additional products? Tomorrow it will affect pulses also. Clarification is necessary because this is a very dangerous provision. As I said, a lot has been given in this trade deal and very little has been taken.

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He further said that you will remember that the Prime Minister had gone to Houston in 2019 and he had given the slogan ‘This time, Trump government.’ This deal, finalized on February 6, proves that ‘this time we have lost to Trump’. Ramesh alleged that this was directly linked to Rahul Gandhi’s attack on the Prime Minister in Parliament over the failures of the external security front. So the announcement of this deal was a part of controlling the news and headlines.

Ramesh said that the framework of the interim trade agreement states that in the event of any change from either side, the US and India have agreed that they can amend their commitments. President Trump has changed the tariffs, so India has every right to change its commitments, he argued. Ramesh said our first commitment is to reduce or eliminate tariffs on a wide range of food and agricultural products. Our demand from the Prime Minister is that it should be put on the back burner.

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He informed that India has committed to eliminate or reduce import duties on all US industrial goods and a wide range of US food and agricultural products. Ramesh said that this commitment in the joint statement should be changed because according to this statement, India has every right to do so. He said that this commitment will have a direct impact on soybean farmers, corn farmers, fruit and dry fruits growers, cotton farmers. First of all, it will affect the farmers of Jammu-Kashmir, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh. Then the joint statement also mentions additional products. What does it mean?” Ramesh asked that our second question is that when the Prime Minister and the Commerce Minister (Piyush Goyal) knew since December that the Supreme Court’s decision could come any time, many people believed that it could be cancelled. Ramesh said that when you knew that the decision could go against Trump, then why did you reach an agreement in such a hurry?

I hope that given the widespread confusion over this issue, this joint statement should be shelved and we should renegotiate the terms, this is a one-sided agreement.” Ramesh said that this will harm the interests of lakhs of farmers in different states of the country. He asked, “On one hand the US President and the US Secretary of State are claiming that India has stopped buying Russian oil, but the government is saying that India will maintain its strategic autonomy, so where is the clarity on all these issues? Therefore, I am afraid that the tough questions that are being asked to the Prime Minister, the Prime Minister is avoiding all those questions. He claimed that any agreement is based on give and take, but India has only given in. On the Congress agenda, Ramesh said. That the first in the series of Kisan Maha Chaupals will be held in Bhopal on February 24, the second in Maharashtra on March 7 and the third in Sri Ganganagar, he stressed, “Our aim is to completely protect the interests of farmers.” He further said, “The Prime Minister was forced to withdraw the three black anti-agriculture laws in 2021. Our aim is to ensure that whatever agreement we make, the interests of farmers are fully protected.” On Trump’s change in tariffs, Ramesh said… there is an atmosphere of widespread confusion and uncertainty. “The best course for India is to shelve this framework agreement and renegotiate the terms of the agreement to fully protect the interests of farmers,” he said. In a major blow to a key economic agenda of Trump’s second term, the US Supreme Court, in a 6-3 decision written by Chief Justice John Roberts, said the tariffs Trump imposed on countries around the world were illegal and that the President had exceeded his jurisdiction when imposing the sweeping tariffs.

Earlier this month, when the US and India announced the creation of a framework for an interim agreement on trade, Trump issued an executive order removing the 25 percent punitive tariff imposed on India’s purchases of Russian oil. The US President noted that New Delhi has committed to stop direct or indirect energy imports from Moscow and to stop purchasing US energy products. Under the trade agreement, Washington will impose lower reciprocating tariffs on New Delhi, which will be reduced from 25 percent to 18 percent. Soon after the court’s decision, Trump claimed there was “no change” to the trade deal with India.

At a press conference at the White House on Friday, Trump said that I think my relations with India are wonderful and we are doing business with India. India used to get oil from Russia. And at my request they stopped taking oil from Russia, because we want to end this terrible war in which 25,000 people are dying every month. Trump said his relations with Prime Minister Modi are “very good”. He then again claimed that he had prevented a war between India and Pakistan by using tariffs last summer. When asked about the agreement with India, Trump said that nothing has changed. They will pay tariffs, and we will not pay tariffs. He further said that this is a reversal of the situation before, as you know, India – and I think Prime Minister Modi is a great gentleman, really a great person. But they were much smarter than the people they were against in terms of America, they were robbing us. Trump said that that is why we made an agreement with India. Now that’s a fair compromise.

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