The US-India trade dialogue has once again run aground, this time on a thicket of competing priorities and political compulsions. With US President Donald Trump’s July 9 deadline for imposing reciprocal tariffs fast approaching, the absence of an interim agreement speaks to a larger malaise in the bilateral trade dynamic ~ the dissonance between Washington’s commercial assertiveness and New Delhi’s cautious pragmatism.

At the heart of the dispute lies agriculture ~ politically sensitive in India and symbolically potent in the United States. For India, farm tariffs are not just about economics; they are a shield for rural livelihoods and food sovereignty. To expect steep cuts in duties on items like corn, soy and ethanol ~ all heavily subsidised in the US ~ is to ignore the political calculus of a nation where nearly half the workforce is still linked to agriculture. Then there is the perennial tension between market access and regulatory autonomy. The........

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