‘India has 100% more deals than Trump’: US economic expert on Washington’s incomplete pacts

Despite US President Donald Trump’s earlier assertions that Washington would sign 90 deals in 90 days, it is India that has more deals than the US, said Henrietta Treyz is Managing Partner and Director of Economic Policy Research at Veda Partners. She said that Americans are also wary about imposing tariffs on US’ trade partners.

Speaking with CNBC, Treyz said, “India now has 100 per cent more deals than Donald Trump this year. If you recall, they promised 90 deals in 90 days – we have two deals in 10 months, and those are with Cambodia and Malaysia.” Her comments come after India-EU signed a mammoth trade deal, touted as the ‘mother of all deals’. 

Treyz said that the US-South Korea deal has also not been completed due to myriad issues. South Korea was covered by a free trade agreement with the US, she said. However, Trump has been threatening the EU, Japan and South Korea with tariffs.  

“For lawmakers the concern is that the Americans do not like the tariffs. 50 per cent of the Americans want the Supreme Court to strike them down…These trade deals and tariffs are weighing on the American psyche and are pulling the President’s numbers down,” she said. 

Many experts have commented that India and the EU were looking for a way out to diversify from the US due to its tariffs and pressures. The India-EU FTA would then benefit both sides. 

India is in the highest tariff bracket of 50 per cent, including 25 per cent Trump imposed for India’s purchase of Russian oil. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that there was still a ‘path’ to remove the 25 per cent tariff. 

“I would imagine that there is a path to take them off. So that's a check and a huge success,” he added, criticising Europe for not slapping tariffs on India. “Our virtue-signalling European allies refused to do it (impose tariffs) because they wanted to sign this big trade deal with India,” he stated. 

Bessent said that the Russian oil that India purchases would be refined and the refined products would be sold to the Europeans. “They are financing the war against themselves,” he said for the umpteenth time.