Jairam Ramesh, left, and Prime Minister Modi
NEW DELHI: Jairam Ramesh, Congress general secretary in charge of communications, on Sunday escalated his attack on the Center over the proposed India-US interim trade agreement, saying it reflects “Abki baar Trump se haar” and should be put in “cold storage”.
“His comments came amid confusion after the US Supreme Court’s ruling invalidating President Donald Trump’s previous global tariffs.He said that the terms of the framework should be renegotiated and the clause on liberalizing imports, especially agricultural products, should be scrapped, arguing that India had conceded without achieving sufficient gains.
Jairam Ramesh questions Modi government on US trade deal, tariffs and Russian oil claims
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi had given a slogan in Houston in 2019 – ‘Abki baar Trump Sarkaar’ but this framework of the interim agreement is evidence of ‘Abki baar Trump se haar’,” he told PTI.Noting that the framework allows either side to amend commitments in the event of changes, Ramesh said India has the right to review its commitments after Trump changed the tariffs. “The first commitment we have made is to reduce or eliminate customs duties on a wide range of food and agricultural products. Our request to the Prime Minister is to put this in cold storage,” he said.According to him, India has committed to eliminating or reducing import duties on all US industrial goods and a wide range of US food and agricultural products – a provision that should be changed under the joint statement.
He warned that farmers of soybean, maize, fruits, nuts and cotton in Jammu and Kashmir, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Himachal Pradesh will be directly affected.He said: “Our second question is that when the Prime Minister, Commerce Minister (Piyush Goyal), knew since December that any time (now) the Supreme Court ruling could be issued, many thought it could be overturned. Why did you rush to reach an agreement when you knew that the ruling could be against Trump?”Ramesh added: “I hope that in light of the enormous confusion surrounding this issue, this joint statement will be put in the cold and we will renegotiate the terms. This is a one-sided deal. This will harm the interests of thousands and hundreds of thousands of farmers in different states of the country.”He questioned the timing of the announcement, asking what happened on February 2 that led the Prime Minister to “force” President Trump to announce the trade deal.
“This is directly related to Mr. Rahul Gandhi’s attack in Parliament on the Prime Minister for failures on the external security front. So this announcement of the deal was a part of managing the news and headlines,” he claimed.Stepping up his campaign, Ramesh said the Congress will organize ‘Maha Kisan Maha Chaupal’ in multiple states to mobilize farmers and discuss the possible ramifications of the emerging trade pact.“We will have a Maha Kisan Maha Choupal in Bhopal, in Yavatmal, Maharashtra, on March 7, and later in Sri Ganganagar, Rajasthan.
We are in contact with farmer organizations. We will work with them too. Three black laws were withdrawn. It took 14-15 months, but PM Modi had to withdraw it. PM does ‘tariffs’ while Trump continues to impose ‘tariffs’. “I am telling you this based on President Trump’s statements.”The comments came days after the US Supreme Court struck down most of Trump’s sweeping tariff measures, ruling 6-3 that the administration had exceeded its authority by using the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose broad tariffs on imports.
The Court held that the power to impose taxes rests primarily with Congress.Following the ruling, Trump announced a new global tariff of 10 percent on all countries under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 as a temporary surcharge on imports of up to 15 percent for 150 days to address the balance of payments deficit. It later raised it to the “fully permitted and legally tested 15%” level, effective immediately.
