Lutnick ‘optimistic’ for US-India deal, urges New Delhi to step back from Brics
The US commerce secretary did not directly mention Beijing but cited de-dollarisation and other efforts by the bloc in Washington speech
“I think India is trying hard to be one of the earlier countries [to reach a trade deal with the US], which I appreciated,” Lutnick said in a keynote speech at an event promoting US-India economic ties in Washington on Monday.
“But what I hope to achieve is we would like market access. We would like our businesses to have reasonable access to the markets of India … We want to have the trade deficit reduced,” he told the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum’s Leadership Summit.
“Now in exchange for that, what India is going to want is … certain key markets … to make sure that they have special access to the American marketplace,” he added.
Despite the ongoing trade saga between China and the US, the official did not mention Beijing, but urged Delhi to distance itself further from Russia and China, citing the Russia-India arms trade and de-dollarisation efforts undertaken by the Brics grouping.
Brics – an acronym for founding members Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – is an association of 10 leading emerging markets. The other member states are Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates.