Geostrategist Brahma Chellaney on Saturday stated that the not too long ago introduced framework for the India-US interim pact simply added “another feather to [US President Donald] Trump’s extractive cap”. He stated that after Japan, South Korea, and Malaysia, Trump’s technique to weaponise trade has coerced India into pledging $500 billion in imports of American merchandise over the subsequent 5 years.
“The trade cope with India provides another feather to Trump’s extractive cap. His weaponised trade technique — after extracting US-investment commitments of $550 billion from Japan, $350 billion from South Korea and $70 billion from Malaysia — has now coerced India into pledging $500 billion in imports of American merchandise over the subsequent 5 years, because the newly launched joint assertion makes clear,” Chellaney wrote in a publish on X.
He added that, not like different East and Southeast Asian economies, India is an import-dependent financial system whose progress rests primarily on home consumption.
However what impression will this have on India’s total merchandise trade deficit?
“With complete U.S.-India bilateral items trade at simply $132.13 billion in 2025, forcing India to import roughly $100 billion a yr from america wouldn’t merely skew the bilateral relationship — it might, and not using a dramatic leap in Indian exports, practically double India’s total merchandise trade deficit to round $200 billion,” he defined.
He added that with the India-US interim trade pact, Trump has as soon as once more proven that his trade technique is “extra coercive and extractive than even China’s Belt and Street Initiative.”
In the direction of the tip of his publish, Chellaney claimed that Trump is utilizing American market entry not as leverage however as a blunt instrument of financial coercion by concentrating on weaker Asian nations.
Highlights of the India-US interim trade agreement
The interim trade agreement framework, signed on Saturday, is designed to reduce obstacles and invigorate the India-US trade and financial ties.
The US will cut back present tariffs on Indian imports from 50 per cent to 18 per cent, together with the elimination of the punitive 25 per cent extra obligation imposed due to India’s oil trade with Russia. The US has additionally exempted tariffs on Indian plane as a part of the interim trade pact.
A market of $30 trillion has been opened for India’s exports, offering an enormous enhance to the pharma, generics, and textiles sectors, amongst others. India, on the opposite hand, will decrease or remove duties on all US industrial items and an enormous array of non-delicate agricultural items, together with tree nuts, soybean oil, and wine and spirits.
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