PM Modi must stop appeasing ‘good friend’ Trump; India must not sign trade pact as it stands: Congress

With U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer visiting India, the Congress on Tuesday (June 23, 2026) said Prime Minister Narendra Modi must stop appeasing his “good friend” President Donald Trump, and there is absolutely no need for India to be “bamboozled” into signing any trade pact which at present is heavily against its interests.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said the Modi government must seek inspiration from Malaysia, which has rebuffed its own trade deal with America following the U.S. Supreme Court’s verdict.

“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,” Mr. Ramesh said on X.

“The US promised to reduce tariffs on Indian exports from 25% to 18%. India promised to eliminate its tariffs or reduce them deeply on US agricultural commodities and industrial products and purchase up to USD 500 billion from the US over five years,” he said.

Mr. Ramesh pointed out that on February 20, 2026, the Supreme Court of the U.S. ruled that President Trump’s reciprocal tariff strategy was illegal.

The very tariff concession that the U.S. had offered India in the February 6, 2026, joint statement effectively disappeared overnight, he said.

“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,” Mr. Ramesh said.

However, India, along with about 60 other countries, is under investigation by the U.S. for unfair trade practices that supposedly violate U.S. laws, he said, adding that final outcomes from this investigation are expected in the coming weeks.

The U.S. is clearly using this investigation as a threat to get India to formally sign the agreement as announced on February 6, 2026, he said.

“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,” Mr. Ramesh said.

Despite having trade agreements with Japan and the EU, the US has threatened increased tariffs on them, he said.

Even if a deal is signed, what and where is the guarantee that tariffs will not be unilaterally imposed or threatened to be imposed thereafter, Mr. Ramesh asked.

“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,” Mr. 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.

Mr. Greer is visiting India to take forward the discussions on the interim trade deal agreed to by Prime Minister Modi and President Trump in February.

Mr. Trump and Mr. Modi met on the sidelines of the G-7 meeting in France last week, where the U.S. President said that India and the U.S. were very close to finalising the trade agreement.