India is going to say that “they are sorry” and return to negotiate a trade deal with the Donald Trump administration in the next month or two, United States Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told Bloomberg on Friday.

“And it will be on Donald Trump’s desk how he wants to deal with [Prime Minister Narendra] Modi,” said Lutnick during an interview to the television network. “We leave that to him.”

The commerce secretary further said that New Delhi is reluctant to open its markets, reduce ties with Russia or distance itself from the BRICS grouping.

“They [India] are a vowel between Russia and China,” he said. “If that’s who you want to be, go be it. But either support the dollar, support the United States of America, support your biggest client, who is the American consumer, or I guess you are going to pay a 50% tariff and let us see how long this lasts.”

The BRICS grouping comprises India, Brazil, Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates. Washington views the group as attempting to become an economic counterweight to the US.

Lutnick’s comments came against the backdrop of strained diplomatic ties between New Delhi and Washington, mainly because of Trump having imposed so-called reciprocal tariffs on Indian goods and punitive levies for purchasing Russian oil amid the Ukraine war.

The Donald Trump administration had announced on August 6 that it would double the tariffs on Indian goods to 50% for purchasing Russian oil. A 25% so-called reciprocal tariff had already taken effect.

The US president has repeatedly alleged that India’s imports were fuelling Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Negotiators from both countries had completed a fifth round of trade talks in Washington in July. The next round, scheduled for August 25, was abruptly cancelled and no fresh dates have been announced as yet.

On Tuesday, Indian Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal had expressed optimism about concluding a bilateral trade agreement with the US by November.

Lutnick said on Friday that the US remains open to dialogue, but warned that access to the American consumer base “comes with expectations”. Further, he claimed that India and China rely heavily on access to the US markets.

“People have to remember it’s our $30 trillion economy that is the consumer of the world,” he told Bloomberg. “So eventually they all have to come back to the customer because we all know eventually the customer is always right.”

Hours after Lutnick’s comments, Trump said that he will “always be friends with Modi”.

Trump told reporters at the White House that “there is nothing to worry about” the US’ ties with India because the two countries have a “special relationship”.

When asked by a reporter about his social media post on Friday that the US had “lost India” to China, Trump said: “I don’t think we have”.

Responding to Trump’s comments, Modi on Saturday said that he appreciates the US president’s “positive assessment” of the bilateral ties.

“Deeply appreciate and fully reciprocate President Trump’s sentiments and positive assessment of our ties,” Modi said on social media. “India and the US have a very positive and forward-looking Comprehensive and Global Strategic Partnership.”

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