Cave-In, Not Breakthrough
- Swaminathan Anklesaria Aiyar
- THE ECONOMIC TIMESUpdated: Feb 11, 2026, 17:02 IST IST
The India-US tariff deal is a humiliating cave-in. This is not just a ‘trade deal’. India has been arm-twisted into giving up its sovereign right to buy oil from wherever it chooses, Russia in this case. Some analysts say realpolitik obliges India to submit until Trump’s term ends and the US hopefully gets a better president. Okay. But unlike the agreement with the EU, please do not call this the ‘mother of all deals’.
The fine print is still not available. Piyush Goyal calls it a landmark achievement. US tariffs on Indian goods have been cut from 50% to 18%. But they averaged something like 4% pre-Trump. So, the new reduction is not generosity. It’s a partial rollback of economic blackmail, accompanied by a warning that the blackmail can resume any time.
The fine print is still not available. Piyush Goyal calls it a landmark achievement. US tariffs on Indian goods have been cut from 50% to 18%. But they averaged something like 4% pre-Trump. So, the new reduction is not generosity. It’s a partial rollback of economic blackmail, accompanied by a warning that the blackmail can resume any time.
