India-U.S. interim trade deal: Amendments in the White House factsheet reflect shared understandings, MEA says

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Thursday (February 12, 2026) said that the recent amendments made in the White House factsheet on the framework for the India-U.S. interim trade agreement reflect the “shared understandings contained in the joint statement” by the two countries.

The statement comes a day after the Trump administration on Wednesday (February 11, 2026), backktracked on changes it made to the India-U.S. joint statement, removing references to ‘pulses’, ‘buying agricultural products’, ‘digital service tax’ and Indian ‘commitments’ on investing $500 billion.

Responding to a question on the matter in the weekly media briefing, MEA Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said: “As you are aware, the India-U.S. Joint Statement on the framework for an Interim Agreement on reciprocal and mutually beneficial trade was issued on February 7, 2026. The Joint Statement is the framework and remains the basis of our mutual understanding in the matter. Both sides will now work towards implementing this framework and finalising the Interim Agreement.”

“The amendments in the U.S. fact sheet reflect the shared understandings contained in the Joint Statement,” he added.

The references, which were not in the original joint statement, had led to questions being raised with the Opposition seeking a clarification from the government on its position.

Officials had categorically said that sensitive agricultural items were not included in the deal and that India had “intended” but not given a binding commitment to investing $500 billion in American products over a period of five years.

The U.S. did not issue any statement before amending the two documents available online.