'Adds another feather to Trump's extractive cap': Brahma Chellaney weighs in on India-US interim trade agreement

Geostrategist Brahma Chellaney on Saturday said that the recently announced framework for the India-US interim pact just added "another feather to [US President Donald] Trump's extractive cap". He said that after Japan, South Korea, and Malaysia, Trump's strategy to weaponise trade has coerced India into pledging $500 billion in imports of American products over the next 5 years. 

"The trade deal with India adds another feather to Trump’s extractive cap. His weaponised trade strategy — after extracting US-investment commitments of $550 billion from Japan, $350 billion from South Korea and $70 billion from Malaysia — has now coerced India into pledging $500 billion in imports of American products over the next five years, as the newly released joint statement makes clear," Chellaney wrote in a post on X. 

He added that, unlike other East and Southeast Asian economies, India is an import-dependent economy whose growth rests mainly on domestic consumption.

But what impact will this have on India's overall merchandise trade deficit?

"With total U.S.-India bilateral goods trade at just $132.13 billion in 2025, forcing India to import roughly $100 billion a year from the United States would not merely skew the bilateral relationship — it could, without a dramatic jump in Indian exports, nearly double India’s overall merchandise trade deficit to around $200 billion," he explained. 

He added that with the India-US interim trade pact, Trump has once again shown that his trade strategy is "more coercive and extractive than even China’s Belt and Road Initiative." 

Towards the end of his post, Chellaney claimed that Trump is using American market access not as leverage but as a blunt instrument of economic coercion by targeting weaker Asian countries. 

Highlights of the India-US interim trade agreement

The interim trade agreement framework, signed on Saturday, is designed to lessen barriers and invigorate the India-US trade and economic ties.

The US will reduce current tariffs on Indian imports from 50 per cent to 18 per cent, including the removal of the punitive 25 per cent additional duty imposed due to India's oil trade with Russia. The US has also exempted tariffs on Indian aircraft as part of the interim trade pact. 

A market of $30 trillion has been opened for India's exports, providing a huge boost to the pharma, generics, and textiles sectors, among others. India, on the other hand, will lower or eliminate duties on all US industrial goods and a vast array of non-sensitive agricultural goods, including tree nuts, soybean oil, and wine and spirits.