New Delhi: Even as India highlighted the push for a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) as the main takeaway from a phone conversation between external affairs minister S. Jaishankar and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Washington continued to frame “reciprocal tariffs” as the core issue under discussion.Jaishankar was the first to share news of the call through a post on X (formerly Twitter), stating that the two sides had “agreed on the importance of the early conclusion of the Bilateral Trade Agreement”.Since the US first raised the prospect of tariffs – and then imposed what it called reciprocal tariffs – India has consistently projected the FTA negotiations as the answer to the growing trade friction.While the US maintains a baseline tariff of 10% on all countries, it has set higher country-specific rates – 26% for India – which are set to take effect from April 9.Later, US State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said Jaishankar and Rubio “discussed US reciprocal tariffs on India and how to make progress toward a fair and balanced trade relationship”, without any reference to FTA discussions.During Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Washington a month after Donald Trump was sworn in for a second term as US President, one of the key takeaways had been an agreement to conclude the first phase of the FTA by autumn this year. Trump is expected to visit New Delhi for the upcoming Quad leaders’ summit, which India will host.While the White House has justified the tariff hikes as being based on the principle of reciprocity, the methodology made public indicates they are linked to bilateral trade deficits.Unlike China or the European Union, India has not issued any sharp response to the tariff announcement, which some analysts see as signalling a breakdown of the global trading system.Earlier on Monday, commerce minister Piyush Goyal said in Mumbai that India’s tariffs were intended to protect against unfair trade practices and dumping.He asserted that while India’s overall tariff on US goods stands at 17%, many of these apply to products not actually imported into the country.“Our applied tariff to the United States is probably seven or eight per cent. It’s not humongous,” he said.According to the World Trade Organisation, India’s simple average tariff is 15.9%, while its weighted average tariff – based on the share of each product in total imports – is 7.7%.Goyal, who is leading the FTA negotiations, declined to comment on the current status of the talks.Blaming China for the structural imbalances in global trade, he said the problems began in the mid-1990s with efforts to bring Beijing into the WTO. The world, he argued, had been “convinced” that China was reforming, but it instead exploited unfair practices to gain an advantage. According to both the US and India, the phone call also covered geopolitical issues, with a particular focus on the Indo-Pacific. Jaishankar added that the discussion also spanned other regions, including “the Indian Sub-continent, Europe, Middle East/West Asia, and the Caribbean.”PakistanOn the same day, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also spoke with his Pakistani counterpart, M. Ishaq Dar.A detailed readout from the state department said that Secretary Rubio “raised prospects for engagement on critical minerals and expressed interest in expanding commercial opportunities for US companies”.A US government delegation is already in Pakistan to take part in the Pakistan Minerals Investment Forum with a focus on the critical mineral sector.As with India, the state department said the two sides also discussed “US reciprocal tariffs on Pakistan and how to make progress toward a fair and balanced trade relationship”. Pakistan has been hit with a 29% tariff.Other issues on the agenda included “illegal immigration” – typically referring to US deportation flights for undocumented workers.Rubio also thanked Dar for Pakistan’s role in the arrest and extradition of ISIS-K member Mohammad Sharifullah, which had been highlighted in Trump’s first address to Congress after beginning his second term. The two sides also reaffirmed their commitment to “continued cooperation on counterterrorism”.In addition, with Pakistan now a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for the next two years, the US readout said both countries “look forward to working together to address global challenges”.
