The United States and India struck an interim trade deal Friday that will slash tariffs on American industrial and agricultural exports while committing India to $500 billion in purchases of U.S. products over the next five years. The agreement marks the most significant breakthrough in U.S.-India trade relations in decades — and it came together in a matter of days.

U.S. Trade Ambassador Jamieson Greer wasted no time crediting the man behind the deal. Trump's approach to trade, Greer said, delivered what years of conventional diplomacy never could:

"[Trump's dealmaking] is unlocking one of the largest economies in the world for American workers and producers, lowering tariffs for all U.S. industrial goods and a wide array of agricultural products."

According to Fox Business, the framework is straightforward. India eliminates or reduces tariffs on all U.S. industrial goods and a wide range of American food and agricultural products — including tree nuts, fresh and processed fruit, soybean oil, wine and spirits, dried distillers' grains, and red sorghum for animal feed. In return, the U.S. will apply a reciprocal tariff rate of 18 percent on Indian goods under an executive order from April 2025, down from a prior rate that had climbed as high as 50 percent.

The deal also includes a U.S. commitment to remove reciprocal tariffs on generic pharmaceuticals, gems and diamonds, and aircraft parts once the interim agreement is finalized. A formal trade agreement between the two countries is expected in March.

Half a Trillion Dollars Flowing Back to America

The headline number — $500 billion over five years — deserves attention. India intends to purchase U.S. energy products, aircraft and aircraft parts, precious metals, technology products, and coking coal under the agreement. That's not a vague pledge to "strengthen economic ties." It's a dollar figure with categories attached.

For American energy producers, this is enormous. For farmers in the Midwest watching soybean oil and sorghum finally gain access to a market of 1.4 billion people, the deal is tangible relief. This is what trade policy looks like when it's built around reciprocity rather than multilateral hand-wringing.

The joint statement framed it in diplomatic terms:

"The Interim Agreement between the United States and India will represent a historic milestone in our countries' partnership, demonstrating a common commitment to reciprocal and balanced trade based on mutual interests and concrete outcomes."

"Concrete outcomes" is doing a lot of work in that sentence — and it should. For too long, trade frameworks between major economies have been exercises in aspiration. This one has numbers.

From Phone Call to Framework in Five Days

The timeline here is worth noting. Trump announced Monday that he and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had agreed to the trade deal following a phone call. By Friday, the joint statement was out. The president also issued a separate executive order Friday rescinding a 25 percent tariff on imports from India, effective at midnight Saturday.

That's the pace of dealmaking when both sides have something to gain and a leader willing to use leverage. India got lower tariffs and continued access to the American market. The U.S. got tariff elimination on its industrial goods, agricultural market access that American producers have sought for years, and a half-trillion-dollar purchasing commitment.

The deal also came with a geopolitical condition: India halting Russian oil purchases. That's a significant strategic concession from New Delhi — one that reorients India's energy posture away from Moscow and toward American producers. Trade policy and foreign policy work in tandem.

What American Farmers Actually Get

The agricultural provisions deserve more than a passing mention. India's tariff walls on American food products have been a sore point for years. The list of products gaining new or expanded access tells the story:

• Dried distillers' grains (DDGs)
• Red sorghum for animal feed
• Tree nuts
• Fresh and processed fruit
• Soybean oil
• Wine and spirits

These aren't luxury goods. They're the products of American soil, American labor, and American ingenuity — and they've been locked out of one of the world's largest consumer markets by protectionist tariff structures. That wall is coming down.

Greer acknowledged the diplomatic effort on both sides:

"[Friday's announcement] demonstrates the deepening ties between the United States and India as we create new opportunities for farmers and entrepreneurs in both countries. I thank Indian Minister of Commerce and Industry Goyal for his leadership and commitment to achieve fair and balanced trade with the United States."

Leverage Is a Strategy, Not a Gamble

For years, the foreign policy establishment insisted that tariffs were blunt instruments — destabilizing, counterproductive, and diplomatically reckless. The preferred alternative was always more dialogue, more summits, more communiqués that committed no one to anything.

What happened this week is what happens when tariffs are used as leverage by someone who actually intends to make a deal. The 18 percent reciprocal rate isn't an end state — it's a negotiating position that brought India to the table with real commitments. The prior tariff structure created the pressure. The deal relieved it — on terms favorable to American workers and producers.

That's not recklessness. That's strategy with a closing date.

The formal agreement expected in March will fill in the remaining details. But the framework is set, the commitments are public, and American goods are about to enter the Indian market on terms that would have been unthinkable two years ago. India didn't come to the table because of a strongly worded letter. It came because the alternative was worse.

Five hundred billion dollars. Tariffs were slashed on American exports. A geopolitical realignment of Russian energy. And a deal was closed in less than a week.

That's what reciprocity looks like when someone means it.