New details have surfaced about why the India–US trade deal failed to reach a conclusion, with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick claiming that the talks stalled due to a lack of direct communication between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former US President Donald Trump. He said the issue was not trade policy, but Trump’s expectation of a personal call to close the deal, which eventually resulted in higher tariffs on Indian goods.

This information was revealed by US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick during an interview on the All-In Podcast, hosted by entrepreneur Chamath Palihapitiya. Lutnick said the trade deal between India and the US was almost complete, but it failed at the final stage because Prime Minister Modi did not speak directly with Trump. According to him, the issue was not about policy disagreements, but about Trump expecting a personal call to close the deal.

Lutnick claimed that the US had given India a limited time window of “three Fridays” to finalise the agreement. However, he said the Indian government was not comfortable with this approach and that Modi never made the call. As a result, the US moved ahead with trade deals with other countries such as Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Philippines, even though India was earlier expected to be ahead of them.

“The deal was ready. Trump is the one who closes deals. All that was needed was a call from Modi,” Lutnick said. He added that the US assumed India’s deal would be completed before others, but that did not happen.

Lutnick also said that the trade deal conditions discussed earlier are no longer valid, as the US has stepped back from the agreement for now. However, he added that the door is still open and expressed confidence that India may work it out in the future.

He compared India’s approach with that of the United Kingdom, where UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer personally called Trump before the deadline, leading to the deal being finalised quickly.

Reports by international media had earlier claimed that Trump tried to call Modi several times in July, but the Indian Prime Minister did not respond. This reportedly happened during a tense period in India-US relations, after the US imposed additional tariffs on India over its purchase of Russian oil.

Indian officials reportedly felt cautious, fearing Trump might exaggerate or misrepresent the outcome of talks. Later, relations improved after Trump called Modi on his birthday, and the two leaders spoke again during Diwali and in December. It remains unclear whether India and the US will finalise the trade deal this year, but the episode highlights how personal diplomacy played a key role in shaping trade relations.