Revised fact sheet quietly drops “certain pulses,” softens language on digital taxes and $500 billion purchase commitment
Within hours of releasing its India-US trade framework fact sheet on Monday, the White House issued a corrected version scrubbing references that New Delhi had never agreed to. Gone was the mention of tariff reductions on “certain pulses,” a crop of enormous political weight in India, the world’s largest producer and consumer of lentils, chickpeas, and dry beans. Also softened: assertions that India would eliminate digital services taxes and had “committed” to purchasing $500 billion in American goods.
Sources familiar with the matter confirmed India flagged the discrepancies, calling the original inclusions inadvertent. The quiet but telling revision underscores the delicate tightrope both nations walk eager to project diplomatic momentum, yet bound by the hard limits of domestic political realities.
Negotiations, it appears, continue well after the press release.
About The Author
