'One-sided': Opposition MPs flag concerns over India-US trade deal

With the Lok Sabha deadlock broken after a notice to remove Speaker Om Birla, Opposition parties accused the government of signing a one-sided India-US trade deal that could hurt farmers

The Lok Sabha on Tuesday afternoon took up a discussion on the Budget, with several Opposition MPs accusing the government of signing a trade agreement framework with the United States (US) that would hurt India’s farmers.

 

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav termed the India-US interim trade agreement “one-sided”, saying it would hurt the farming community because of imports from the US and also harm domestic industry.

 

In the Rajya Sabha, Milind Deora of the Shiv Sena, an ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance, asked if India’s economy was indeed dead, why the European Union had signed “the biggest trade deal” with India and not with China or the US.

 

“Some people overseas and, more importantly, right here had the wilful ignorance to call our economy dead,” Deora said, without naming either US President Donald Trump, who had last year termed India’s economy as “dead”, or Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who had then agreed with Trump’s comments. BJP’s Aparajita Sarangi said India signing nine trade deals in recent months was evidence that the government was capable of navigating a difficult world with conviction.

 

Trinamool Congress’ Saugata Roy accused the government of ditching Russia, India’s long-time friend, by succumbing to US pressure to stop oil purchases from Russia.

 

In comments on X, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said the government had claimed that the Indo-US joint statement said nothing on Russian oil, even though Trump had publicly stated otherwise. “Now the White House fact sheet clearly lists ‘India’s commitment to stop purchasing Russian Federation oil’ as a condition for removal of an additional 25 per cent tariff,” he said, adding that the government has backstabbed India’s farmers by completely opening the agriculture sector.

 

“Now, we know what ‘Additional Products’ actually meant in the Indo-US joint statement agreed by the Modi government. ‘Pulses’ have been silently added in the newly released White House fact sheet on February 9, which was not part of the Indo-US Joint Statement issued on February 6, 2026.”

 

Kharge said: “The utility of red sorghum imports to India was mentioned in the Joint Statement, but that utility pertaining to 'animal feed' has now mysteriously vanished in the White House fact sheet of February 9, 2026.”

 

Kharge accused the Union government of “betraying our gau-mata and dairy farmers”.

 

He said the trade deal called for importing food and agricultural products, including dried distillers’ grains (DDGs) and red sorghum for animal feed, from the US. He said it was well known that if Indian cattle consume American feed, which is largely genetically modified, it would alter cattle breeds and the taste of milk.

 

Kharge said full-page advertisements were being published in newspapers and Amul was being forced to whitewash this concession. But the truth, he said, was that the Modi government had not approved genetically modified feed since 2017 and had now suddenly done so.

 

Kharge claimed that the trade deal also stands to hurt the apparel sector. “By granting Dhaka zero-duty access for using American cotton, Washington has effectively incentivised Bangladesh over Indian farmers to save their own margins,” he said.

 

Opposition MPs raised concerns over the India-US trade deal in the Rajya Sabha as well.