India-U.S. trade deal didn’t happen because Modi did not call Trump: Lutnick

U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has said the trade deal with India did not happen because Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not call U.S. President Donald Trump.

Mr. Lutnick’s remarks came a few days after Mr. Trump said that Mr. Modi knew he was unhappy with India’s purchases of Russian oil and that Washington could raise tariffs on New Delhi “very quickly”.

The threat by the U.S. President came at a time when the two countries were negotiating a bilateral trade agreement. So far, six rounds of negotiations have been held for that. The pact includes a framework deal to resolve the 50% tariffs on Indian goods entering America.

Mr. Lutnick, in a podcast on Thursday (January 8, 2026), said he asked Mr. Modi to call the President to close the deal. However, he said India was “uncomfortable” doing it, “so Mr. Modi didn’t call”.

The Commerce Secretary said the U.S. did trade deals with Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam, but he assumed the trade deal with India was going to be done before them.

“We did Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, and we announced a whole bunch of deals. So we did this whole bunch of deals because we negotiated them and assumed India was going to be done before them. I have negotiated them at a higher rate. So now the problem is that the deals came out at a higher rate. And then India calls back and says, ‘Oh, okay, we are ready. I said, ready for what.”