‘India will say sorry and make a deal’, says US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick

Amid US President Donald Trump’s 50% tariffs on India and cryptic posts of ‘losing India’, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Friday said that India will have to apologise soon and make a deal with the US as it cannot survive without the American market.

Speaking at a TV interview, Lutnick said, “If you want to be the bridge between Russia and China, go be it! But either support the dollar, support the United States of America, support your biggest client or pay 50% tariffs. And let’s see how long this lasts.”

He claimed that in a month or two months, India is going to be at the table, and they’re gonna say they’re sorry, and they’re going to try to make a deal with Donald Trump.

He further warned, “India doesn’t want to open their market. Stop buying Russian oil. And stop being a part of BRICS.”

Lutnick also criticised India’s surge in Russian oil purchases, highlighting how imports grew from less than 2% before the Ukraine war to more than 40% now.

He reportedly said, “What they’re doing is, because the oil is sanctioned, it’s really, really cheap... And so the Indians have just decided, ‘Ah, the heck with it. Let’s buy it cheap and make a ton of money’,” he said, calling the move “just plain wrong” and “ridiculous".

On Friday, Trump posted on Truth Social, “Looks like we’ve lost India and Russia to the deepest, darkest, China. May they have a long and prosperous future together!” The photograph of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Chinese President Xi Jinping accompanied the post.

When asked about Trump’s post during a weekly media briefing on Friday, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal stated, “I have no comments to offer on this post at this time”.