Indian PM Modi has been in town. India runs a considerable trade surplus with the US. The framework of the “arty” deal is India will level out that trade imbalance, the same way Japan agreed to, a week or so back: buy more US military hardware, and large quantities of US oil and gas. Shipping oil and gas from the US doesn’t seem very efficient, for India, vs buying in the Persian Gulf. Seems the emerging USian trade tactic is to require trade partners to buy large quantities of US oil and gas, to maintain their access to US markets.
The U.S. would simply charge the same tariff rates that India charges, Trump said, while the trade deficit with India could be addressed with the sale of oil and gas.
Steve…long the oil patch