New Delhi: In an apparent swipe at US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent for stating that India has been a bit recalcitrant on trade negotiations with America, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor Thursday said it is far better to be recalcitrant than to be “tractable, submissive or acquiescent to injustice”.
Responding to a question on wrapping up all the tariffs and trade deals by the end of October, Bessent had said that it is aspirational.
“But I think we are in a good position. The big trade deals that aren’t done or aren’t agreed — Switzerland is still around, India has been a bit recalcitrant. US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and his team of lawyers are busy papering all this over,” Bessent had said on Fox Business Tuesday.
In an X post, Tharoor said, “I hear some people are accusing India of being ‘recalcitrant’. I say, far better to be recalcitrant than to be tractable, submissive or acquiescent to injustice.”
In a dig at Tharoor’s penchant for using unusual English words, an X user said, “That’s fine Shashi, but what about the abnegation of camaraderie in the egregious enfranchise that comes from the fatuous of the grandiloquent at the behest of impecunious and insidious semaphore?”
To this, Tharoor responded by saying, “Bhai, aap kehna kya chahte ho (Brother, what do you want to say?).”
Even as trade negotiations between India and the US were ongoing, Trump imposed tariffs totalling 50 per cent on India, including 25 per cent for Delhi’s purchases of Russian oil. This will come into effect from August 27.
Responding to the tariffs, the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi has said that the targeting of India is “unjustified and unreasonable”.
Like any major economy, India will take all necessary measures to safeguard its national interests and economic security, it has said.
Last week’s announcement of Trump’s executive order imposing the additional 25 per cent tariffs on India came at a time when a US team is scheduled to visit India from August 25 for the sixth round of negotiations for the proposed bilateral trade agreement.
The two countries are aiming to conclude the first phase of the pact by fall (October-November) this year.
PTI