Various opposition leaders, including Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, criticized the India-US trade deal announced late on Monday, demanding more details.
India and the United States have agreed on a trade deal under which Washington will reduce reciprocal tariffs on Indian goods to 18 percent from the current 25 percent, US President Donald Trump said after a phone call with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday, (PTI file)The opposition’s criticism comes after months of uncertainty. India and the US have announced what both sides are calling a landmark trade deal. After the phone conversation between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump.
What Congress leaders saidLeader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi in Lok Sabha on Tuesday Directly attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modisaying he was “frustrated” and “uncompromising”.
“Modiji is upset. Narendra Modi signed the (US-India) trade deal, which has been stalled for months, last night. There is a lot of pressure on him. Narendra Modiji’s image may be tarnished. The bottom line is that our PM has compromised. The public has to think about it. For the first time, the LOP was not allowed to speak on the deal because he could not speak in Narendra Modi’s hard work speech. By compromising, he has sold out the country,” Rahul Gandhi told the media outside Parliament.
The Rae Bareli MP claimed that Modi was “scared”, naming “two pressure points” on him, including the Epstein file.
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“Narendra Modi ji is scared because those who created his image are now breaking this image. There is a case against Adani ji in the US; it is actually a case against Modi ji. There is much more in the Epstein files which the US has not revealed yet. There is also pressure because of that. These are two pressure points. The country should understand that,” he added.
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor also demanded more clarity on the India-US trade deal, Note that the government has not shared any specific details of the deal with Parliament or the people.
Tharoor noted that the information available so far was “limited to President Trump’s tweets and press statements, lacking details”. He said India’s purchase of $500 billion worth of US goods and opening its market to American agricultural products raised “serious questions”, especially because of the potential impact on Indian farmers.
While acknowledging that a trade deal was important, Tharoor cautioned against premature celebrations. “Reduced tariffs are better than higher ones,” he said, adding, “We cannot celebrate without understanding the terms”.
He stressed that the government must “take Parliament into confidence and clearly explain what has been agreed”, arguing that the absence of official explanation was at the heart of the debate. “Right now, there is concern because there is no clarity – the Congress is asking questions, and the BJP is not answering,” Tharoor said, calling it the “core problem”.
Karnataka Electronics Minister Priyank Kharge has also criticized the India-US trade deal, comparing it to the Goods and Services Tax (GST). He noted that Washington had reduced tariffs on Indian goods to 18 percent.
Alleging a serious trade imbalance, Kharge dismissed the trade deal as a “save the GST festival”. He claimed that the agreement allows for a 0% tariff on American goods entering India, compared to an 18% tariff on Indian goods entering the US.
“Indian government has become a madhouse. It is nothing but GST Bachao Utsav, which the government celebrated so much. First you implement high GST, then you reduce them after 8 years, then you celebrate the reduction. Similarly, the US tariff has been reduced to 18%, so you are celebrating the reduction while the Indian government knows that the US tariff is zero… I see no point in celebrating,” Priyank Kharge told reporters.
Opponents joinedOther opposition leaders like DMK MP Kanimozhi Karunanidhi also joined in criticizing the India-US trade deal on Tuesday, saying there was no clarity from the government on the deal. After US Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins claimed that India had agreed to unprecedented access to its agricultural markets for exports to the US, she wanted to know if farmers were protected under the deal.
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“There is no clarity, everything is being announced by the President of the United States, and we don’t know, come on Hey, what’s in it? We want to know what the farmers of this county are protected and what this agreement is all about. Parliament is in session, but no statement has been made in the House by the government. This is very confusing. There is no precedent for the way it is being treated in Parliament.”
BJP leaders hailed the ‘historic’ achievementUnion Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal The agreement will create new opportunities for farmersMSMEs, entrepreneurs and skilled workers.
In a post on X, Goyal said the deal will help India access advanced US technology and accelerate the country’s journey towards Vixit Bharat 2047. Congratulating both leaders, he said the agreement “reflects the strength of two like-minded, fair-trade democracies working together for shared prosperity.”
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also joined the Prime Minister in welcoming the agreement.
BJP MP Bansuri Swaraj, in a post on X this morning, said the tariff cuts will expand market access, create jobs and spur innovation, calling economic cooperation a “firm foundation” of India-US strategic ties.
BJP MP Baijayant Jai Panda told PTI that the breakthrough was “historic”, saying it would redefine trade between the world’s two largest democracies and have a stabilizing effect on global trade and geopolitics.
