US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has stepped up the attack on main trading partners, such as India and Brazil, to respond properly to the United States, opening markets and not implementing policies that harm American interests. In one of the interviews with a news agency, Lutnick singled out India, Brazil and Switzerland as countries that, in his opinion, should change the policies of their trade and economy to better fit US priorities.
“We have a series of countries to remodel, such as Switzerland, Brazil, such as India. These are nations that must actually respond appropriately to America,” Lutnick said. They should be opened up and should cease doing things that are disadvantageous to America. His remarks are more incisive in the current US criticism of Indian trade and energy policies, which he earlier termed as bravado in reaction to tariffs enacted under the Donald Trump regime.
Only a few days before, Lutnick had proposed that India was merely playing at defiance in trade negotiations and had predicted that New Delhi would be back at the negotiating table in a month or two. He observed that Indian companies that were under pressure to retain trade relations with the US would most probably coerce the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to agree to a deal. “It is all bravado since it is good to fight with the largest client in the world, but at some point, your businesses will tell you that you have to stop doing it and go make a deal with America,” he explained.
In response to the increased Indian purchases of discounted Russian crude oil after the Ukraine invasion, Lutnick also described the trend as simply wrong and ridiculous. He emphasised that India should make it clear on which side it intends to be in the wider geopolitical and economic situation.
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