In a sharp new attack on India’s trade policies, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has accused New Delhi of maintaining protectionist practices while benefiting from open access to American markets. During a recent interview with Axios, Lutnick questioned the fairness of India’s trade relationship with the U.S., particularly its reluctance to import American agricultural products like corn.
“India brags that they have 1.4 billion people, then why wouldn’t they buy one bushel of corn from us?” Lutnick stated, adding that India “sells everything to us and they won’t buy our corn. They put tariffs on everything.”
Lutnick’s comments came in response to a question about whether the U.S. is “mismanaging very valuable relationships” with allies like India, Canada, and Brazil through the use of tariffs. The Commerce Secretary defended President Donald Trump’s “fair and reciprocal trade” model, stating that the administration is determined to “right years of wrong.”
“The President says, bring down your tariffs and treat us the way we treat you,” Lutnick said. “We’ve got to right years of wrong, so we want tariffs to go the other way until we fix this. That’s the President’s motto and you either accept it or you are going to have a tough time doing business with the world’s greatest consumer.”
The U.S. has already imposed a 50% tariff on Indian goods. This includes a 25% reciprocal duty and an additional 25% levy specifically for New Delhi’s imports of discounted Russian crude. This policy, which is one of the steepest imposed on any country, has strained relations between the two nations, a fact President Trump has recently acknowledged.
Lutnick has previously been vocal about his administration’s position. In an earlier interview with CNBC, he demanded that India make “meaningful concessions” to maintain strong economic ties with the United States. He emphasized that India must reduce its reliance on Russian oil and open its markets to American products. He also warned that India’s businesses would eventually have to “say they’re sorry” and return to the negotiating table with the U.S. because they can’t afford to lose access to the American consumer market.
The Commerce Secretary’s remarks highlight the central points of contention in the ongoing trade dispute: India’s energy relationship with Russia, which the U.S. views as funding the war in Ukraine, and its long-standing protectionist policies that the U.S. believes are unfair to American exporters.