Vikram Misri meets Sergio Gor as India says joint statement is bedrock of US trade deal

A day earlier, the White House had amended a fact sheet it had released on the India-US trade agreement, dropping the words “certain pulses” and “agriculture” from the text, with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) saying that the amendments reflect shared understanding.

On February 9, the US had unilaterally released a fact sheet on the interim trade agreement, which mentioned “certain pulses” among agricultural products that would see tariff cuts by New Delhi. A day later, the White House updated the document and removed certain phrases not consistent with the joint statement.

“The India-US 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,” said Randhir Jaiswal, MEA spokesperson, on Thursday.

“Both sides will now work towards implementing this framework and finalising the Interim Agreement. The amendments in the US fact sheet reflect the shared understandings contained in the Joint Statement,” Jaiswal added.

The US also made a key change with regard to India buying $500 billion worth of US products as it tweaked “India commits” in its earlier fact sheet to “India intends” in its revised statement.

The earlier statement mentioned: “India will remove its digital services taxes and committed to negotiate a robust set of bilateral digital trade rules that address discriminatory or burdensome practices and other barriers to digital trade, including rules that prohibit the imposition of customs duties on electronic transmissions.”

The revised version dropped this entirely and now says India is “committed to negotiate a robust set of bilateral digital trade rules.”

However, the fact sheet mentions that “President Trump agreed to remove the additional 25% tariff on imports from India in recognition of India’s commitment to stop purchasing Russian Federation oil. Accordingly, the President signed an Executive Order last Friday removing that additional 25% tariff.”

Even as Misri had emphasised that India’s energy sourcing will be “guided by national interests”, senior American diplomat S Paul Kapur, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, has described India’s gradual reduction in Russian oil imports and expanding defence ties with Washington as a strategic gain for the US in the Indo-Pacific.

Testifying before a House subcommittee on Wednesday, Kapur said the US is already seeing movement in India’s energy sourcing patterns. Asked how Washington planned to “enforce or measure” whether India has stopped buying Russian oil, Kapur said, “I don’t know the details of how that’s going to be worked out.” However, he emphasised that India has been “reducing their purchases of Russian oil and diversifying away from it” while increasing imports of American energy.

Trump’s recent executive order that rescinded 25 per cent punitive tariff says that “India has committed to stop directly or indirectly importing Russian Federation oil and represented that it will purchase energy products from the US. The order has put in place a monitoring mechanism as well.”

“The more diversified we are, the more secure we are,” Misri had said on Monday with regard to India’s energy sourcing policy.

Kapur also spoke about the expanding defence cooperation as central to the relationship. “We also have some purchases of weapon systems in the pipeline – that will help India protect itself better, ensure its sovereignty, also create American jobs,” he said.

He added, “An India that can be independent and stand up for itself and preserve its freedom of action actually works to our strategic advantage and promotes our strategic interests.” He also argued that a capable India “takes a huge swathe of the Indo-Pacific off China’s plate” and “almost by definition, prevents it (China) from becoming a dominant power in the region.”