While US President Donald Trump and his aides have been projecting the India–US trade deal as a major win for Washington, a Bloomberg report offers a very different picture. According to the report, the Modi government had conveyed to the US that India was prepared to wait out Trump’s presidential term rather than accept a deal on unfavourable terms.
Bloomberg reported on a meeting held in early September 2025 between India’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, during which New Delhi laid out its tough position. The meeting took place against the backdrop of sustained criticism of the Modi government by the Trump administration and the imposition of steep US tariffs—up to 50%—on Indian exports, among the highest faced by any country.
The report gains added significance after Trump pre-emptively announced the India–US trade deal and his aides pitched it as a big win for the American economy, especially the farm sector. Agriculture and dairy, however, are sectors where India has consistently drawn red lines.
Quoting sources familiar with the meeting, Bloomberg said Doval told Rubio that India would not be bullied by President Trump or his aides and was willing to wait until the end of his term, having dealt with difficult US administrations in the past. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity, citing the private nature of the discussions. Bloomberg said both India’s Ministry of External Affairs and the US State Department declined to comment.
During the meeting, Doval also conveyed that New Delhi wanted Trump and his team to tone down public criticism of India to help put bilateral ties back on track, the report said.
Following the meeting, there was a noticeable softening in rhetoric, with Trump later calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi to wish him on his birthday in September.
This marked a shift from the earlier confrontational tone adopted by Trump and some of his close aides. Peter Navarro, one of Trump’s most vocal allies, had accused India of “getting into bed with authoritarians” and framed the Russia–Ukraine war as “Modi’s war” over India’s purchase of Russian crude. Navarro also drew criticism for attacking India’s civilisational symbols while targeting Modi personally.
Tensions escalated further after India rejected Trump’s claim that he had brokered a ceasefire between India and Pakistan following the four-day conflict in May 2025. Relations, which had steadily improved over two decades, saw a sharp downturn.
In a move reminiscent of his ceasefire announcement on Truth Social, Trump again bypassed diplomatic protocol by declaring the completion of the trade deal on the same platform, claiming he had spoken to Modi.
While Modi acknowledged speaking to Trump, he made no reference to the trade deal. Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal later said negotiations that began in February 2025 had reached their “final form”.
Trump’s unilateral announcement, however, exposed the Modi government to political attacks at home. The absence of official details has given ammunition to the Opposition, even as Trump and his aides continue to sell the deal to American voters ahead of crucial mid-term elections.
Trump began his current term in January 2025. Under US law, a president can serve only two terms, meaning India would have been willing to wait until 2029 for a deal, if necessary.
Opposition parties in India have alleged that New Delhi may have been pressured into concessions on oil imports and agricultural products. The government has neither confirmed nor denied these claims. However, the Bloomberg report suggesting that India was willing to wait out Trump’s term points to the possibility that New Delhi resisted agreeing to terms that ran counter to its interests.