In a surprising public statement, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has attributed the failure of a major trade agreement with India last year to a single, unmade phone call from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to President Donald Trump.
Claims of a Missed Call and a Derailed Deal
Speaking on the All-In Podcast published on Friday, January 9, 2026, Lutnick detailed the breakdown in negotiations. He stated that India was given "three Fridays" in 2025 to finalize a trade pact with Washington. According to Lutnick, the deal was fully prepared, but its completion hinged on a direct conversation between the two leaders.
"So I said — You got to have Modi, it’s all set up. You have to have Modi call the president. And they were uncomfortable doing it," Lutnick recounted. "So Modi didn’t call." He expressed disappointment, noting that an agreement with India was expected to be sealed before similar deals with Vietnam and Indonesia, which were successfully signed in mid-2025.
India's Swift and Firm Rebuttal
The Indian government moved quickly to dismiss Lutnick's characterization of events. Later on the same Friday, Ministry of External Affairs spokesman Randhir Jaiswal told reporters in New Delhi that the remarks were "not accurate."
Jaiswal countered the narrative by revealing that Prime Minister Modi and President Trump spoke by phone eight times throughout 2025. He emphasized that the two nations had been close to a trade agreement on "several occasions," implicitly rejecting the idea that a single missed call was the deal-breaker.
The Broader Context of Strained Trade Ties
This diplomatic spat occurs against a backdrop of significant trade friction. In August 2025, President Trump imposed tariffs of 50 per cent on Indian exports—the highest rate in Asia. This move was linked in part to India's continued purchases of Russian oil following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
These tariffs have strained the relationship between the long-time partners. Despite multiple rounds of talks, the punitive measures remain in place. While Trump and Modi have spoken four times since September 2025 in an effort to mend relations, no timeline for a new trade deal has been established.
Further complicating matters are Trump's repeated claims that he brokered a ceasefire during a brief armed conflict between India and Pakistan in May 2025—an assertion that the Indian government has consistently denied.
What Comes Next?
India now stands as one of the last major economies without a comprehensive trade deal with the United States. The conflicting accounts from Washington and New Delhi highlight the delicate and often opaque nature of high-stakes diplomatic negotiations. The incident underscores the challenges in the bilateral relationship, where personal diplomacy between leaders intersects with hard economic interests and geopolitical considerations. The path to a future agreement appears to require not just phone calls, but a significant rebuilding of trust and alignment on key strategic issues.
