‘Landmark moment’: Rajnath Singh hails India-US trade deal, says agreement will take economic ties to ‘new heights’ | India News

Defense Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday praised the India-US trade deal under which Washington reduced tariffs on India to 18 per cent, calling it a “landmark” that will take bilateral economic ties between the two countries to “new heights”.

In a post published on X, the Defense Minister highlighted that the agreement is an important milestone in India-US relations that promotes stronger ties and strategic cooperation.
He also congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump on the agreement.

In a post on he said.

This came after Trump said earlier on Monday that the US and India had “agreed on a trade deal” with Washington, reducing mutual tariffs from 25 percent to 18 percent “out of friendship and respect” for Prime Minister Modi.

In his Truth Social post, Trump referred to his meeting with Prime Minister Modi earlier in the day, stating that the Prime Minister is one of his closest friends and a strong, respected leader of India.

The US President also claimed that Prime Minister Modi had agreed to “stop buying Russian oil” and buy much more from the US.
He also stated that India will reduce tariffs and non-tariff barriers against the US.

“It was an honor to speak with Prime Minister Modi of India this morning. He is one of my closest friends and a Strong and Respected Leader of his Country. We talked about many things including trade and ending the war with Russia and Ukraine. He agreed to stop buying Russian Oil and buy much more from the US and potentially Venezuela. This will help END THE WAR currently going on in Ukraine where thousands of people are dying every week! Out of friendship and respect for the Prime Minister Modi and his upon his request, effective immediately, we have agreed to a Trade Agreement between the United States and India, whereby the United States will reduce the Mutual Tariff from 25% to 18%, and will likewise proceed to reduce Tariffs and Non-Tariff Barriers against the United States to ZERO.”

Following Trump’s post, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on the X channel that it was great to talk to his “dear friend President Trump” and expressed his satisfaction that “there will now be an 18% reduced customs duty on products made in India.”

In a post on

Meanwhile, a White House official confirmed to ANI that Washington would also remove the additional 25 per cent tariff on Indian imports due to New Delhi’s purchases of Russian oil, stating that India should “not just reduce but stop its purchases of Russian oil”.

According to ANI, on whether customs duties on Indian imports would be lifted in return for reducing Russian oil purchases, the official said, “Yes, but the agreement is that India will not only reduce but also stop Russian oil purchases.”