MEA refutes U.S. Commerce Secretary statements on PM Modi not speaking to Donald Trump

India rejected U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick statement that the India-U.S. trade deal fell through due to Prime Minister Modi not calling U.S. President Trump when it was agreed. Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson said the comments were “inaccurate” pointing out that the two leaders have spoken eight times in 2025.

The MEA also said that it is following the U.S. Russian Sanctions Bill mandating as much as 500% in tariffs.

Responding to the Bill in U.S. Congress, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), said on Friday (January 9, 2026), “We are aware of the proposed Bill. We are closely following the developments.”

The MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said “Our position on the larger question of energy sourcing is well known. In this endeavor, we are guided by the evolving dynamics of the global market and by the imperative to secure affordable energy from diverse sources to meet the energy security needs of our 1.4 billion people.:

In a statement, Mr. Jaiswal said “We have seen the remarks. India and the U.S. were committed to negotiating a bilateral trade agreement with the U.S. as far back as February 13 last year. Since then, the two sides have held multiple rounds of negotiation to arrive at a balanced and mutually beneficial trade agreement. On several occasions, we have been close to a deal. The characterisation of these discussions in the reported remarks is not accurate. We remain interested in a mutually beneficial trade deal between two complementary economies and look forward to concluding it.”