EAM S Jaishankar's first response as Trump tariffs kick in: 'India's strategy is to ...'

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday said that India is engaging with the Trump administration in the United States to reach an agreement on tariffs, in his first response as reciprocal tariffs have kicked in today.

While speaking at the Rising Bharat Summit in Delhi, Jaishankar said, "India's strategy to combat reciprocal tariffs is to engage with the Trump administration and discuss terms with the Americans."

"India has had more discussions with the US administration in the last six weeks than with all of Europe in the last few years," he added.

Jaishakar also said that he doesn't think it's possible at the moment to speak about what will be the impact of tariffs, but claimed that India is possibly the only country after Trump assumed presidency with which the US has an "uderstanding in principle".

“We are very open and constructive with them as they were with us. We try to negotiate by the fall of this year by the best of my knowledge. Our strategy has a goal, honestly, this has been our objective. But, we were negotiating the trade deal,” he added.

He also said that India has had more discussions with the US administration in the last six weeks than with all of Europe in the last few years.

Earlier this week, Jaishankar on spoke to the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio over the phone and discussed the early conclusion of the bilateral trade agreement in the backdrop of President Donald Trump's decision to impose tariffs.

The two ministers also discussed crises in different regions of the world, including West Asia, Europe and the Caribbean.

"Exchanged perspectives on the Indo-Pacific, the Indian Sub-continent, Europe, Middle East/West Asia and the Caribbean," Jaishankar wrote on X adding "Agreed on the importance of the early conclusion of the Bilateral Trade Agreement,".

This is the first high-level conversation between the two countries following Trump's announcement of reciprocal tariffs on global trading partners. India has said it is not imposing any reciprocal tariffs and is working on the bilateral trade pact.