India, Jan. 25 -- A couple of days after US President Donald Trump suggested that a trade deal was being worked out between India and US, his treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, has said that the additional tariff of 25% imposed by the US on India could be revoked given the reduction in India's oil purchases from Russia. To be sure, this is not the first time a senior member of the Trump administration has spoken about the state of Indo-US trade talks. There have also been negative comments, including from the US commerce secretary about the state of the talks.

These pages have always underlined the view that India's best interest lies in continuously pursuing trade negotiation with the US without getting distracted by either provocative ...