PM Modi interested in 'tareef', not tariffs: Jairam Ramesh dig on 'US threat'

Narendra Modi is only interested in tareef (praise) and not concerned with tariffs, Congress MP and general-secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh said on Friday, wondering where the prime minister's "56-inch chest" is in dealing with US threats on the reciprocal tariff issue.

In an interview with PTI, Ramesh said the Congress would raise the issue of US President Donald Trump's reciprocal tariff threats during the upcoming second half of Parliament's Budget session, and called for a bipartisan collective resolve to deal with the "threats".

The Congress leader also alleged that external affairs minister S. Jaishankar has been speaking like an American envoy and a spokesperson for that country.

"Our prime minister wants to hear only tareef, he is not concerned about tariffs. 'Tareef kum aur tariff pe baat kijiye (talk more about tariffs, and less about your praise)," Ramesh said.

He said Trump was entirely redoing the very rules of international trade, adding that the US President's whole idea of reciprocal tariffs is "bizarre".

"We have negotiated a tariff schedule. About 170 countries have negotiated a trade agreement, which became the World Trade Organization in 1995. It took about 10 years to negotiate. Now, Mr Trump comes up with his own bizarre notion of what constitutes international trade," Ramesh said.

"'You tariff, I tariff', that is not the way international trade functions. These rules have been negotiated. The WTO is the World Trade Organization, not the World Trump Organization," he said.

Also hitting out at the government over the manner in which illegal Indian immigrants were deported from the United States, Ramesh said even small countries are raising their voice, but the prime minister stays mum.

"He should speak frankly.... Trump is threatening a country like India. The prime minister talks about having a 56-inch chest, where is his 56-inch chest now? Remember what Indira Gandhi had told (US) President (Richard) Nixon in November 1971? President Nixon and Henry Kissinger had tried to defame India but Indira Gandhi stood up and said, 'I will do what is in the interest of India'," Ramesh recalled.

"It is a question of India's interest. But our prime minister is doing 'namaste Trump, my good friend Trump'. He is busy hugging him. So this question (of tariffs) will be raised (in Parliament). We have raised the issue of Indian citizens (being deported from the US)," he said.

The manner in which Trump is targeting India is a "serious issue" and a matter of "our sovereignty", the Congress leader asserted. He further claimed that the prime minister does not break his silence in Parliament and sends the external affairs minister, "who is like a spokesperson of the US".

"The US does not have an ambassador and the external affairs minister talks like a US envoy," Ramesh said.

He asserted that there is a need to show a collective resolve to the US threats on reciprocal tariffs.

Slamming the BJP-led government, the Congress leader said it never calls an all-party meeting and when it does, the external affairs minister and the home minister simply deliver a sermon. "In the first half of the Budget session, we raised the issue of the humiliating and demeaning manner in which Indian citizens were deported from the US, handcuffed and chained," Ramesh said.

"Many of these migrants were from Punjab, Haryana and Gujarat, and even the migrants from Gujarat were asked to land in Amritsar to score a political point. We raised the issue of the manner of deportation very forcefully," he said.

The first half of the Budget session was held from 31 January to 13 February. The second half begins on Monday and will conclude on 4 April.

Trump has repeatedly spoken about India's tariffs recently. In his address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday, the first of his second term in the White House, Trump criticised the high tariffs charged by India and other countries and termed those "very unfair".

Addressing lawmakers from the US Capitol, Trump has announced that reciprocal tariffs will kick in next month. He has said the US trade deficit with India is almost USD 100 billion, and he and PM Modi have agreed that "we will begin negotiations to address the long-running disparities that should have been taken care of over the last four years — but they did not do that — in the US-India trading relationship, with the goal of signing an agreement".

On Thursday, Trump said India is a very high-tariff country, as he reiterated that reciprocal tariffs on countries that impose levies on American goods will kick in on 2 April.

Commerce minister Piyush Goyal is in Washington for trade talks with his US counterpart, Howard Lutnick.

According to US estimates, the USA's total goods trade with India was USD 129.2 billion in 2024. US goods exports to India in 2024 were USD 41.8 billion, up by 3.4 per cent (USD 1.4 billion) from 2023. US goods imports from India totalled USD 87.4 billion in 2024, up by 4.5 per cent (USD 3.7 billion) from 2023.

The US goods trade deficit with India was USD 45.7 billion in 2024, a 5.4-per cent increase (USD 2.4 billion) over 2023.