Modi-Trump Trade Deal: India’s Market Won Discount Over SE Asia

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Vietnamese commentator argues that India’s markets won a better trade from the US

By S JHA

Mumbai, February 3, 2026 — In the end, India got a better deal with some of the Southeast Asian nations. At 18 percent tariffs, the US is treating India favourably than key American allies in the South East Asia such as the Philippines, Indonesia, and Vietnam.

“It has been a big start of the year in 2026 and finally it got a reciprocal tariff of 18% down from 50%, which makes it 2% better than Vietnam and roughly in line with Southeast Asia, although about 1 or 2% better depending on the country,” wrote Trinh, a Vietnam-based economic commentator, on X.

She was reacting to the announcement of India-US trade deal by Donald Trump. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also hailed the announcement.

“Will this move the needle? Absolutely. As mentioned, what is key for India in the short-term will be the US tariff going lower because that will help with exporter earnings (eg USD to help rupee weakness) and the second aspect is FDI and portfolio flows,” Trinh added.

Earlier, she had argued that “India has a huge domestic market that is a prize on its own. But giving that access has costs and what Trump is asking is forcing change to a country that traditionally has low political risk appetite.”

She had predicted that “25% tariffs over the Russian oil isn’t going to stick. Or maybe it will. Either way, there is some room to push this downward.”