Trump’s claim on zero India tariffs doubtful – former foreign secretary

The US has to deal with the president’s voter base and it is unlikely New Delhi made such a promise, Kanwal Sibal has said

US President Donald Trump’s claim that India has agreed to reduce tariffs for American goods to zero in a proposed trade deal is doubtful, former Indian Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal has told RT.

Trump announced that a trade deal with India had been agreed in a Truth Social post on Monday, claiming that New Delhi will move forward to reduce tariffs and non-tariff barriers against the US to zero.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not mention Trump’s claims on a tariff reduction in his response.

“I don’t think India has made any commitments. But he [Trump] has to explain to his base, to the public why, suddenly he has stepped back,” Sibal said in an interview with RT.

Wonderful to speak with my dear friend President Trump today. Delighted that Made in India products will now have a reduced tariff of 18%. Big thanks to President Trump on behalf of the 1.4 billion people of India for this wonderful announcement.

When two large economies and the…

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 2, 2026

The former foreign secretary cited this as the reason why Trump is claiming that he has “succeeded with India and Prime Minister Modi the way he has succeeded with the EU, Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, where all of them made big commitments.”

Referring to the claim that India will stop buying crude oil from Russia, Sibal, who served as India’s envoy to Moscow, said Trump was bound to say this as the 25% punitive tariff imposed on India by the US last year was based on its purchases of Russian oil.

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Sibal said Washington and New Delhi aim to substantially increase bilateral trade, with a goal of exceeding $500 billion by 2030, adding that Trump has used this figure to claim that New Delhi has made a firm commitment on these lines.

Trump has repeatedly claimed investment commitments by numerous countries as part of trade deals.

“I can assure you, I don’t for a moment believe we will give zero tariffs across the board on agriculture. There is no way,” Sibal stated. “Some concessions will be made on some products, which we have agreed to already.”

India’s insistence on leaving out dairy and agricultural products was seen as one of the main hindrances to a potential trade deal with the US.