NSA Ajit Doval told Rubio on Trade Deal: If no agreement is reached, we will wait for Trump to leave office

New Delhi: An agreement has been reached on a trade deal between India and the US, which President Donald Trump and his allies are presenting as a major victory for the American people. However, a report has contradicted these claims. The report claims that India strongly objected to Trump’s stubborn stance and said that if a trade deal wasn’t reached, it would wait for Trump’s term to end.

The report states that India took a firm stance during a private meeting between India’s National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in early September 2025. Doval told Rubio unequivocally that India would not be intimidated by the threats from Donald Trump and his allies, and if tensions didn’t ease, it could wait until 2029 for a trade agreement. According to the report, this meeting took place when the Trump administration was continuously attacking the Modi government and had imposed a 50% tariff on Indian exports, which was the highest tariff at the time.

‘Stop Criticizing India’
According to the Bloomberg report, Ajit Doval reminded Marco Rubio that India has faced several hostile US administrations in the past. He demanded that Trump and his officials stop publicly criticizing India so that relations could be brought back on track.

‘Bullying Not Acceptable’
Doval made it clear that India would not accept any kind of ‘bullying’. It was after this meeting that a slight softening in Trump’s tone was observed at the end of September, when he called Prime Minister Modi to congratulate him on his birthday. The report is based on input from officials in Delhi who provided information on the condition of anonymity due to confidentiality. Why Did Relations Deteriorate?
Relations between India and the US became strained when New Delhi refuted Trump’s claims of a ceasefire during the India-Pakistan conflict in May 2025. Following this, Trump’s close associates, like Navarro, launched sharp personal attacks on PM Modi and called the Ukraine war “Modi’s war” due to India’s purchase of Russian oil. Amidst this bitterness, the US imposed a 50 percent tariff on Indian goods.

Trump’s Big Announcement
On Sunday, Donald Trump, as usual disregarding protocol, announced on ‘Truth Social’ that a trade deal with India had been finalized. While PM Modi confirmed the talks, he did not provide details of the deal.

India Confirms
Subsequently, on Tuesday, Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal confirmed the India-US trade deal, stating only that the negotiations had been finalized. Trump is portraying this deal as a major victory for American farmers, while India has always considered its agriculture and dairy sectors as its “red line.”

Meanwhile, the lack of complete information about the deal has led opposition parties in India to criticize the government. Opposition parties are questioning whether India has succumbed to American pressure. However, reports of the meeting between Doval and Rubio suggest that the Modi government may have reached a compromise in this trade deal without giving in completely. On the other hand, with midterm elections approaching in the US, Trump is presenting this as a major achievement.