It’s a tariff reduction exercise at the moment and details will have to be announced, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in her first reaction to the India-US trade deal.
In her first reaction to the India-US trade deal, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said it was a tariff-reduction exercise and details will have to be announced in the due course of time.
In an interview with PTI, Sitharaman said the announcement was on “tariff-reduction from the 25 per cent and over and above that — punitive of 25 per cent”.
“It’s come down to 18 per cent. It’s a very good news. So, it’s reduction in tariff,” said Sitharaman.
When asked about the specifics that Trump mentioned, Sitharaman said details will be announced in the due course of time.
“The details will have to be announced. At the moment, it is reduction in the tariff,” said Sitharaman.
VIDEO | PTI EXCLUSIVE: In her first reaction to Trump’s announcement and reduction of tariffs, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman (@nsitharaman), while speaking to PTI CEO and Editor-in-Chief Vijay Joshi, says, “It’s very good news. So it’s a reduction in tariff. But the… pic.twitter.com/JX8vlw9kgU
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) February 3, 2026
US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a phone call last night. Trump announced after the call that they had reached a trade deal.
Under the deal,
Trump said he would reduce 50 per cent tariffs on India to 18 per cent in exchange for India reducing tariffs on the United States to zero. He further said Modi had agreed to stop purchasing Russian oil and buy American goods worth $500 billion, including energy, tech, and agricultural products.
While Modi or Sitharaman did not address the specifics mentioned by Trump, Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal separately
said on Tuesday that the India-US trade deal would protect sensitive sectors like dairy and agriculture — the two sectors have been excluded from every trade deal so far and are red lines for the government.
In an address in the evening, Goyal also said that India and the United States would soon share a joint statement after technicalities are completed. He added that the trade deal is currently in the final stages of negotiations and all details would be shared once formalities are completed.
Goyal further said that Modi leveraged his personal ties with US Trump and finalised an agreement “that is the best deal compared to all our neighbours and countries that compete with us”.
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