Dramatic turnaround: From brink of collapse, PM Modi & Trump deliver a deal

NEW DELHI: Until a couple of months ago, a trade deal with the US did not seem to be on the horizon. India refused to back Donald Trump’s claim of having brokered the pause of Operation Sindoor and the Trump administration persisted with its crude fulminations against India’s tariffs. US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick seemed to be bang on when he, in a podcast, described the prospect of an early deal by saying that “the train had left the station”. Given the backdrop, the framework for an interim agreement between the two countries as precursor to a Bilateral Trade Agreement…