India will ‘say sorry’, return to trade negotiations in a month or two: US commerce secretary

India is going to say that “they are sorry” and return to negotiate a trade deal with the Donald Trump administration in the next month or two, United States Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told Bloomberg on Friday.

“And it will be on Donald Trump’s desk how he wants to deal with [Prime Minister Narendra] Modi,” said Lutnick during an interview to the television network. “We leave that to him.”

The commerce secretary further said that New Delhi is reluctant to open its markets, reduce ties with Russia or distance itself from the BRICS grouping.

“They [India] are a vowel between Russia and China,” he said. “If that's who you want to be, go be it. But either support the dollar, support the United States of America, support your biggest client, who is the American consumer, or I guess you are going to pay a 50% tariff and let us see how long this lasts.”

The BRICS grouping comprises India, Brazil, Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates. Washington views the group as attempting to become an economic counterweight to the US.

Lutnick’s comments came against the backdrop of strained diplomatic ties between New Delhi and Washington, mainly because of Trump having imposed so-called reciprocal...

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