The Trump-Modi Trade Truce Is Indefinable — Even By Them
Is this really a ceasefire?
Photographer: Jim WatsonAFP/Getty Images
Narendra Modi may have worn a broad smile as members of his parliamentary coalition garlanded him with flowers and congratulated him on his deal with President Donald Trump, but inwardly the Indian prime minister must be as worried as anyone else. The months-long, one-sided trade war between the US and India seems to have come to an end — but nobody knows exactly what the ceasefire terms are.
What we do know is that Trump and Modi are saying two very different things in public. The president has said that India will lower its tariffs to zero, that it will stop buying Russian oil, and will invest $500 billion into the US; the prime minister announced that tariffs of 50 per cent on Indian goods would be dropped to 18%.