US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has said he expects India to apologise and resume the stalled trade talks amid a widening rift between both countries that has seen the US impose punitive tariffs on India, and its leadership cosying up to Washington's rivals, China and Russia.
"In a month or two, I think India's going to be at the table, and they're gonna say they're sorry, and they're going to try to make a deal with Donald Trump, and it will be on Donald Trump's desk how he wants to deal with [Indian PM Narendra] Modi," Lutnick told Bloomberg on Friday.
Lutnick was commenting after US President Donald Trump remarked that US has lost both India and Russia to "deepest, darkest" China, in a Truth Social post featuring a recent photo of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Chinese President Xi Jinping side by side. In his post, Trump wished Modi, Putin and Xi a "long and prosperous future".
He, however, characterised Modi's assembly with Russian and Chinese leaders as mere "bravado," saying Canada's initial tough stance led to economic setbacks for the country.
Eventually, he said, Canadian businesses urged a deal with America.
"[PM Mark] Carney got elected with this term 'elbows up', meaning, let's fight with America. They put on retaliatory tariffs. They were all bravado, and what happened, their GDP went negative 1.6 percent, unemployment rocketing towards 8 percent. And what did Carney just do? He just finally dropped his retaliatory tariffs," Lutnick said.
"So I think what happens is it's all bravado, because you think it feels good to fight with the biggest clients in the world. But eventually, your businesses are going to say, 'You've got to stop this and go make a deal with America'."
'They're the vowel between Russia and China'
Lutnick also charged New Delhi for not opening its markets for American goods and asked it to stop buying discounted Russian oil that Washington says funds Moscow's war in Ukraine.
"India doesn't yet want to open their market. Stop buying Russian oil. And stop being a part of BRICS. They're the vowel between Russia and China. If that's who you want to be, go be it," Lutnick said.
BRICS is an intergovernmental organisation comprising ten countries – Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates.
Lutnick insisted India support the dollar and the US, or face tariffs.
"Either support the dollar, support the United States of America, support your biggest client, who's the American consumer, or, I guess you're gonna pay 50 percent tariff, and let's see how long this lasts," Lutnick added.
Lutnick accused India of capitalising on the Ukraine war, saying India's Russian oil imports have surged due to discounted prices amid sanctions, increasing from under 2 percent to 40 percent.
"Because the oil is sanctioned, it's really, really cheap, because the Russians are trying to find people to buy it. And so the Indians have just decided… let's buy it cheap and make a tonne of money," he said, adding India must determine where its allegiance lies.
"It's ridiculous, and they [India] either need to decide which side they want to be on."
He stressed that global trade dynamics position the US as a key consumer, influencing international commerce.
"The Chinese sell to us. The Indians sell to us. They're not going to be able to sell to each other. We are the consumer of the world. People have to remember, it's our 30 trillion dollar economy that is the consumer of the world. So eventually, they all have to come back to the customer, because we all know eventually, the customer is always right."
