From Pulses to Digital Taxes: What the White House Changed in India–US Trade Deal

The White House revised the fact sheet of the trade deal with India, making two key changes to the terms of the agreement under the interim trade deal. Washington has removed ‘pulses’ from a list of American products for which it said New Delhi will remove or reduce tariffs.

The revised statement said, “India will eliminate or reduce tariffs on all US industrial goods and a wide range of US food and agricultural products, including dried distillers’ grains (DDGS), red sorghum, tree nuts, fresh and processed fruit, soybean oil, wine and spirits, and additional products.”

Under the agriculture chapter of the trade agreement, India has stated that pulses remain fully protected as a highly sensitive sector under the Exemption category, reports said.

The White House also revised the phrasing of the $500 billion purchase by India. In the revised fact sheet, Washington said India “intends” to buy more American products and purchase over $500 billion of energy, information and communication technology, coal, and other products from the US. Earlier, it said India “will purchase over $500 billion”.

Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal has also clarified in press conferences last week that the $500 billion purchase is spread over a period of five years.

Further, the fact sheet also dropped the earlier claim that “India will remove its digital services taxes.” The revised version states only that “India will commit to negotiate a robust set of bilateral digital trade rules that address discriminatory or burdensome practices and other barriers to digital trade.”

In the joint statement by India and the US, the two countries committed to addressing discriminatory or burdensome practices and other barriers to digital trade and will set a smooth pathway to achieve robust, ambitious, and mutually beneficial digital trade rules as part of the broader agreement.

On Friday, Washington and New Delhi released a joint statement following the announcement of the interim trade deal by both countries’ leaders. The formalisation of the agreement is expected by mid-March, Goyal said last week. Given the ‘interim’ nature of the deal, negotiations for a broader bilateral trade agreement (BTA) are ongoing.

On February 2, US President Donald Trump announced the conclusion of the trade deal with India on Truth Social, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcoming the announcement. US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor stated that the India–US deal is a ‘complex deal’ and that it would take some more time to finalise the BTA, given the scale of both economies and the existing trade and strategic relationship between the two countries.

Under the interim deal, Trump slashed India’s tariffs to 18% while rolling back the 25% punitive tariffs Washington imposed over New Delhi’s purchase of Russian oil. According to claims from Washington, India has agreed to halt all purchases of Russian energy and crude. Although India is actively diversifying its energy and crude supplies, New Delhi has neither confirmed nor denied Trump’s claims.