New Delhi: India on Thursday said recent changes made by the United States to the White House fact sheet on the India-US interim trade agreement are in line with the “shared understandings” reached between the two countries.
Addressing the weekly media briefing in New Delhi, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said the joint statement issued by both sides remains the basis of the framework for the proposed interim trade arrangement.
“We had agreed to a joint statement on the framework for an interim agreement on reciprocal and mutually beneficial trade. The joint statement is the framework and remains the basis of our shared understanding in this matter. The amendments in the US fact sheet reflect the shared understandings contained in the joint statement,” Jaiswal said.
The clarification comes after the White House updated its fact sheet outlining details of what it described as a “historic” trade deal between New Delhi and Washington.
The original fact sheet, released on Feb. 9 following the joint statement, provided additional context on the scope of the agreement. It stated that India had agreed to eliminate or reduce tariffs on all U.S. industrial goods and a wide range of American food and agricultural products.
These included dried distillers’ grains, red sorghum, tree nuts, fresh and processed fruits, certain pulses, soybean oil, wine and spirits, among other items.
However, a revised version of the document issued on Feb. 10 omitted “certain pulses” from the list of agricultural products on which India would cut or eliminate duties.
The Ministry of External Affairs did not elaborate on the reason for the omission but maintained that the joint statement — not the fact sheet — forms the operative framework guiding the interim trade pact between the two countries.
The interim agreement is seen as a step toward a broader bilateral trade deal, with both sides aiming to address tariff barriers and expand market access while balancing domestic sensitivities.
