The Government of India said that trade negotiations with the Trump Administration have not stopped

The India, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, commented during a Economic Times on Saturday that trade negotiations with the United States continue, even though New Delhi has some "red lines" that it will defend vigorously. "I mean, negotiations are still going on in the sense that nobody said the negotiations are off. You know? I mean, and people, people do talk to each other," Jaishankar remarked during the event organized by the media outlet.

Asked what were the red lines that the Indian government would defend, the foreign minister commented that these were the interests of Indian farmers and "to some extent" the interests of small businesses. "We as a government are committed to defend the interests of our farmers and our small producers. We are very determined on that. That’s not something which we can compromise on. The same arguments which have been used to target India have not been applied to the largest oil importer, which is China, has not been applied to the largest [liquified natural gas] importer, which is the European Union" Jaishankar commented.

On criticism that India was funding the invasion of Russia to Ukraine by continuing to buy Russian oil despite sanctions, the minister explained that this was nothing but hypocrisy on the part of the West, asserting that many of these countries have continued to trade with the Kremlin over the past few years. "And when people say we are funding the war or putting money in the coffers of [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, India-European Union trade is bigger than India-Russia trade. So is not European money, not putting coffers, putting money into Putin’s coffers," Jaishankar pointed out.