'It takes time, work': Howard Lutnick on trade deal with India, says US-UK deal may be blueprint

US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Saturday said that a trade deal with India may take time since there is a huge list of tariffs that has to be negotiated. Lutnick's comments come ahead of India's chief negotiator Rajesh Agarwal's visit to the US later this month. 

“India has been leaning in really hard, I would love doing a deal, that is certainly a possibility. But there are 7000 tariff lines. It just takes time. It takes work," Lutnick told Bloomberg Podcasts. 

He further said that the trade deal that was just signed between the UK and the US would act as a blueprint for the upcoming deals.

Explaining how the trade deal with India might pan out, Lutnick said that one needs to understand if you want your reciprocal tariffs, you need to open your market and talk about sectoral tariffs. "So open your market big, we may come up with the smartest answer like we did with the UK."

To substantiate his point further, he cited the example of the UK offering to sell Rolls Royce engines to Boeing and agreeing to buy $10 billion Boeing planes from the US as part of the deal. He added that the Trump administration would like to do one trade deal in Asia to set the template for other countries in the region. 

Through this deal, the US indicated that the 10 per cent baseline tariffs will continue to remain as usual for countries even after a bilateral trade agreement has been reached. "The reciprocal tariff rate of 10%, as originally announced on Liberation Day, is in effect," the White House release on the deal read. 

On May 8, US President Donald Trump revealed that India has agreed to eliminate its high tariffs, following discussions he described as 'going great.'

He stated, “India has one of the highest tariffs in the world... They’ll drop it to nothing.” Meanwhile, India's exports to the US reached $11.2 billion in March, marking a significant increase.

This surge in trade, attributed to a 90-day tariff pause, contributed to a $15 billion bilateral trade figure for March. Trump also teased a 'big news conference' regarding a trade deal with a 'big, highly respected' country, with speculation pointing towards India.