India is going to say sorry and make a deal with Donald Trump, claims top US official amid tariff push

US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Friday said India will apologise and make a deal with Donald Trump in a month of two.

"...In a month or two months, I think India is going to be at the table, and they're going to say they're sorry, and they're going to try to make a deal with Donald Trump," Bloomberg quoted Lutnick as saying in an interview.

He then went on to suggest that the deal will be signed at the Oval Office. "And it will be on Donald Trump's desk how he wants to deal with (Narendra) Modi, and we leave that to him. That's why he's the President," he added.

Earlier in the day, Trump took to his social media platform, Truth Social, saying, "Looks like we’ve lost India and Russia to deepest, darkest, China. May they have a long and prosperous future together!"

In the backdrop of Prime Minister Narendra Modi sharing bonhomie with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Tianjin, Lutnick warned India against aligning with Russia and China in BRICS, a grouping founded by the three countries along with Brazil and later South Africa.  

"They're the vowel between Russia and China (in BRICS). If that's who you want to be, go be it. Either support the dollar, support the United States of America, support your biggest client, who is the American consumer, or I guess you are going to pay a 50 per cent tariff. And let's see how long this lasts."

However, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday said India will keep procuring discounted Russian oil. Trump had imposed 50 per cent tariffs on India saying its purchase of Russian oil is funding the war against Ukraine. "Whether it is Russian oil or anything else, it's our decision to buy from the place which suits our needs whether in terms of rates, logistics, anything," Sitharaman told News18.