US Commerce Secretary makes unscheduled visit to India after Trump tariffs ruling; meets Goyal for ‘productive’ lunch

DAys after the US sublime margaret court nullified chairwoman Donald ruff’s sweeping global tariffs, commerce secretary Howard Lutnick made an unscheduled visit to New Delhi and had a “highly productive” lunch meeting with commerce minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday that largely revolved around trade and economic partnership.US ambassador to India Sergio Gor and Goyal confirmed the development through separate posts on X. Along with a photograph of the three, Gor said: “A highly productive lunch with @howardlutnick and @PiyushGoyal. So many areas of cooperation for our two nations!”Goyal said he had “engaged in very fruitful discussions to expand our trade and economic partnership.”ALSO READ | SCOTUS quashes Trump tariffs: What happens to India, and India-US trade dealThe US Commerce Department, in a statement to HT, said the two sides “discussed ways to deepen the trade and economic relationship between the United States and India.” A spokesperson of commerce ministry did not respond to queries seeking details.Later in the day, Lutnick departed for Jodhpur. He is attending the wedding of Ayesha Arora, the daughter of tech executive Nikesh Arora, and ice hockey star Jack Hughes in Jodhpur, people familiar with the matter said.The meeting comes at a critical juncture in India-US trade relations. The Supreme Court struck down Trump’s use of emergency powers under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose sweeping tariffs on February 20, forcing his administration to rely on alternative legal provisions.ALSO READ | Trump slaps 126% solar import duty on India in threat to India-US trade dealTrump invoked Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 to impose a fresh global tariff at 10%, and announced less than 24 hours later that he would raise it to the statutory ceiling of 15%. To be sure, the tariff, as on Thursday, stands at 10% on all trading partners, over and above prevailing MFN rates. The levy is valid for 150 days. The ruling upends a carefully negotiated timeline. India’s chief negotiator Darpan Jain and his team had been due in Washington from February 23 for talks to finalise the legal text of an interim bilateral trade agreement, based on a February 6 joint statement.That statement had envisaged the US reducing its additional tariffs on India — which had reached as high as 50% combining reciprocal and punitive levies — to 18%, in return for India restricting purchases of Russian crude and allowing preferential access to specific American goods. The visit was postponed, with both indicating they needed time to “evaluate” the court’s decision and its “implications.” Experts said the February 6 joint statement would need to be readjusted given the changed landscape. The country-specific tariff structure it envisaged has been invalidated by the court, replaced by a uniform baseline that applies to all trading partners.ALSO READ | What the US Supreme Court’s tariffs’ decision means for the India-US trade dealAbhishek Rastogi, constitutional expert and founder of Rastogi Chambers, said any India-US bilateral arrangement on tariffs must operate within the constitutional constraints now reaffirmed by the Supreme Court. “The authority of the executive to agree on tariff rates is not unfettered; it remains subject to judicially enforceable constitutional constraints. Any tariff commitment that exceeds statutory delegation or violates constitutional limits would be legally unsustainable and liable to be struck down,” he said.Under the US constitutional structure, tariff-setting authority flows from Congress, not the executive, Rastogi noted.