Days after the US Supreme Court invalidated President Donald Trump’s sweeping global tariffs, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick made an unscheduled visit to New Delhi and held a “very productive” lunch meeting with Commerce Secretary Piyush Goyal on Thursday, which largely revolved around trade and economic partnership.
US Ambassador to India Sergio Gore and Goyal confirmed the development through separate posts on X. “Very productive lunch with @hoardlutnick and @PiyushGoyal,” Gore said, alongside a photo of the three. “There are many areas of cooperation between our two countries!”
Goyal said he “engaged in very productive discussions to expand our trade and economic partnership.”
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A spokesperson for the US Embassy in New Delhi, in a statement to HT, said that the two sides “discussed ways to deepen trade and economic relations between the United States and India.” A spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce did not respond to inquiries seeking details.
Later in the day, Lutnick left for Jodhpur. He is attending the wedding of Ayesha Arora, daughter of tech executive Nikesh Arora, and Jack Hughes in Jodhpur, people familiar with the matter said.
The meeting comes at a critical juncture in trade relations between India and the United States. The Supreme Court invalidated Trump’s use of emergency powers under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose sweeping tariffs on February 20, forcing his administration to rely on alternative legal provisions.
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Trump invoked Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 to impose a new 10% global tariff, and announced less than 24 hours later that he would raise it to the legal ceiling of 15%. Certainly, as on Thursday, tariffs would be 10% on all trading partners, on top of prevailing MFN rates. The tax is valid for 150 days. The ruling upends the carefully negotiated schedule. Indian chief negotiator Darpan Jain and his team were scheduled to arrive in Washington from February 23 for talks to finalize the legal text of an interim bilateral trade agreement, based on a joint statement issued on February 6.
This statement envisaged the United States reducing its additional tariffs on India – which reached 50%, combining reciprocal and punitive duties – to 18%, in exchange for India restricting its purchases of Russian crude and allowing preferential access to specific American goods. The visit was postponed, as both indicated they needed time to “assess” the court’s decision and its “ramifications.” Experts said the joint statement issued on February 6 would need to be readjusted in light of the changing landscape. The court invalidated the country’s tariff structure and replaced it with a uniform baseline that applies to all trading partners.
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Abhishek Rastogi, constitutional expert and founder of Rastogi Chambers, said any bilateral arrangement between India and the US on tariffs would have to work within the constitutional constraints now confirmed by the Supreme Court. “The executive’s power to agree on tariff rates is not unfettered; it remains subject to judicially enforceable constitutional limits. Any tariff commitment that exceeds the statutory mandate or violates constitutional limits would be legally unsustainable and vulnerable to cancellation,” he said.
Rastogi pointed out that under the US constitutional structure, the power to set tariffs flows from Congress, not from the executive branch.
