India, Feb. 8 -- Any rational mind would have expected that Donald Trump's US was going to extract significant concessions for a trade deal with India. That's what he has done with most countries. Based on what has been revealed from the Indo-US joint statement released on Saturday - some things are likely still being worked out - this is exactly what has happened, but India shouldn't mind because it has gained too.

India has managed to secure a tariff rate of 18%, which is lower than most countries, especially in key labour intensive sectors. The effective tariff could be even lower. India has also managed to prevent/postpone any blanket opening up of sectors such as farming/dairy which would have jeopardised mass livelihoods. There is ...