India, Feb. 4 -- On February 2, US President Donald J Trump wrote on X: "Out of friendship and respect for Prime Minister (PM) Modi and, as per his request, effective immediately, we agreed to a Trade Deal." A little while later, PM Modi wrote: "Delighted that Made in India products will now have a reduced tariff of 18%". "I look forward," the PM made clear, "to working closely" to take the India-US "partnership to unprecedented heights". The tariff reduction from 50%, if the penalty for importing oil from Russia was to be included, to 18% has set the stage for a breather, at the very least. As expected, the markets in India have quantitatively welcomed the announcements.

In a world where tariffs and the threat of tariffs have been incre...