The Daily Populous Friday January 9th, 2026 day edition
Authored by thehindu.com and submitted by Live_Ostrich_6668

U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has said the trade deal with India did not happen because Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not call U.S. President Donald Trump.

Mr. Lutnick’s remarks came a few days after Mr. Trump said that Mr. Modi knew he was unhappy with India's purchases of Russian oil and that Washington could raise tariffs on New Delhi "very quickly".

The threat by the U.S. President came at a time when the two countries were negotiating a bilateral trade agreement. So far, six rounds of negotiations have been held for that. The pact includes a framework deal to resolve the 50% tariffs on Indian goods entering America.

Mr. Lutnick, in a podcast on Thursday (January 8, 2026), said he asked Mr. Modi to call the President to close the deal. However, he said India was “uncomfortable” doing it, “so Mr. Modi didn't call”.

The Commerce Secretary said the U.S. did trade deals with Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam, but he assumed the trade deal with India was going to be done before them.

“We did Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, and we announced a whole bunch of deals. So we did this whole bunch of deals because we negotiated them and assumed India was going to be done before them. I have negotiated them at a higher rate. So now the problem is that the deals came out at a higher rate. And then India calls back and says, ‘Oh, okay, we are ready. I said, ready for what.”

KoBoWC on January 9th, 2026 at 10:37 UTC »

Trump's 'deals' aren't worth anything, his mood is so changeable it's better just to wait him out and deal with the next guy.

No_Menu_6533 on January 9th, 2026 at 08:36 UTC »

Can I make a deal sir ?

Live_Ostrich_6668 on January 9th, 2026 at 08:18 UTC »

SS: Lutnik claimed that a potential India-US trade deal was fully negotiated and ready, but ultimately failed because Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not make a 'direct phone call' to President Donald Trump to finalize it.

Lutnick's remarks also comes a day after veteran Republican leader and US Senator Lindsey Graham said that President Trump had “greenlit” the Russia sanctions bill, which aims to impose 500 per cent tariffs on countries for buying Russian oil. India is already facing tariffs of up to 50 per cent on its exports to the US, a move that has dented the country’s exports to one of its top destinations and adversely affected investment flows.

In a nutshell:

FROM

(5th September 2025): Lutnik: “India Will Say Sorry In 2 Months.”

(6th Jan 2026): President Trump: 'Modi said, Sir, may I come in'

TO

(9th Jan 2025):: Lutnik: 'Modi didn't call the President'

We've come along a long way