Greater Noida: In a podcast interview, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said that India–US trade deal fell through because Prime Minister Modi did not call President Trump.
Howard Lutnick said “I set the deal up. But Modi had to call President Trump. They were uncomfortable with it, so Modi didn’t call.”
#BREAKING: US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick says the India–US trade deal fell through because Prime Minister Modi did not call President Trump.
“I set the deal up. But Modi had to call President Trump. They were uncomfortable with it, so Modi didn’t call.” pic.twitter.com/5PpiGjVEF4
— Aditya Raj Kaul (@AdityaRajKaul) January 9, 2026
Ministry of External Affairs (@MEA) has replied on Lutnick’s statements, “We have seen the remarks. India and the US were committed to negotiating a bilateral trade agreement with the US as far back as 13 February last year. Since then, the two sides have held multiple rounds of negotiation to arrive at a balanced and mutually beneficial trade agreement. On several occasions, we have been close to a deal. The characterisation of these discussions in the reported remarks is not accurate.”
“We remain interested in a mutually beneficial trade deal between two complementary economies and look forward to concluding it. Incidentally, Prime Minister and President Trump have also spoken on phone on 8 occasions during 2025, covering different aspects of our wide-ranging partnership,” MEA added.
MEA also says, “Prime Minister Modi and President Trump have a friendly relationship and have always addressed each other with mutual respect as per diplomatic norms…”.
Leaders ‘address each other with mutual respect..& diplomatic norm’, says MEA Spox on Trump’s ‘may I call you sir’ comments controversy pic.twitter.com/OOYy22eHCw
— Sidhant Sibal (@sidhant) January 9, 2026
