India and the United States have reached a trade agreement after months of negotiations, according to social media posts from US President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday.
Trump first announced the deal on Truth Social with a flurry of provisions, including that India had agreed to “stop buying Russian Oil, and to buy much more from the United States and, potentially, Venezuela.” India’s continued purchases of Russian oil after the beginning of the war in Ukraine have long been a sore point for Washington and for Trump in particular, with the US president slapping an additional 25% tariff on Indian goods over those oil purchases.
Since encountering pressure from the White House in recent months, New Delhi had already been reducing its purchases of Russian crude. Trump’s push for India to buy more from Venezuela reflects not only his desire to tap into the South American country’s oil market—after he ordered the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro—but also to ensure global crude prices stay relatively low.
Trump said Modi had agreed to “BUY AMERICAN” by investing more than $500bn in US industries such as agriculture, technology, and energy, although there are currently no further details on the timeline for such a deal. In return, Trump wrote, Indian goods entering the United States would face a reduced 18% tariff.
