‘It’s a trap’: Rahul Gandhi says new US trade deal will ‘destroy’ India’s textile industry

Continuing his offensive against the government over the interim India-US trade agreement, Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said that the deal signed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi will “destroy and finish” the textile industry. In a video statement, Gandhi said that a “visionary government” working for national interest would have negotiated a deal that protects and ensures the prosperity of both cotton farmers and textile exporters. “But exactly the opposite has happened. Narendra ‘surrender’ Modi and his ministers have made an agreement that is likely to inflict deep damage on both sectors,” he said. Gandhi added that 5 crore families employed by the industry will be hit by the “zero per cent tariff on Bangladesh and 18 per cent on India”, and pointed out that Bangladesh was India’s competitor in the sector. “The US trade deal signed by Narendra Modi ji will destroy and finish the sector. The entire country knows this, and so does Narendra Modi. I explained in Parliament that Bangladesh got a free pass—zero per cent tax and India got 18 per cent tax. The Bangladesh textile industry will finish off the Indian textile industry,” Gandhi said. > 18% टैरिफ बनाम 0% – आइए समझाता हूं, कैसे झूठ बोलने में माहिर प्रधानमंत्री और उनकी कैबिनेट इसपर भ्रम फैला रहे हैं। और, किस तरह से वो भारत-अमेरिका व्यापार समझौते से देश के कपास किसानों और टेक्सटाइल एक्सपोर्टर्स को धोखा दे रहे हैं। बांग्लादेश को अमेरिका में गारमेंट्स निर्यात पर 0%… pic.twitter.com/F4hi4OCHFj — Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) February 14, 2026 18% टैरिफ बनाम 0% – आइए समझाता हूं, कैसे झूठ बोलने में माहिर प्रधानमंत्री और उनकी कैबिनेट इसपर भ्रम फैला रहे हैं। और, किस तरह से वो भारत-अमेरिका व्यापार समझौते से देश के कपास किसानों और टेक्सटाइल एक्सपोर्टर्स को धोखा दे रहे हैं। बांग्लादेश को अमेरिका में गारमेंट्स निर्यात पर 0%… pic.twitter.com/F4hi4OCHFj — Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) February 14, 2026 Gandhi has been criticising the Centre over the interim India-US trade agreement, and his speech in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday on the Union Budget revolved around the specifics of the deal. Speaking to reporters, he had also alleged that there was pressure on the PM because of the Jeffrey Epstein files naming (Union minister) Hardeep Puri and (industrialist) Anil Ambani and the ongoing case against industrialist Gautam Adani in the US. Responding to Gandhi’s allegations, Puri denied any wrongdoing, and dismissed the allegations as “baseless”, “buffoonery”, “innuendo” and a “smear campaign”. A day after Gandhi spoke about the textile industry facing a threat due to the trade deal, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal had said that the India-US trade deal—expected to be signed next month—will also have provisions on the lines of the one in the Bangladesh-US deal that allows limited quality of Indian textile and clothing to be exported to the US at zero reciprocal duty. In his statement on Saturday, Gandhi said that when he raised the issue in Parliament about the “special concession being given to Bangladesh”, the reply from a minister of the Modi government was that India can avail the same benefit if we import cotton from the US. “Why was this fact hidden from the country till now?” Gandhi asked, equating the Indian policy to a “trap”. “If we import American cotton, our own farmers will be ruined. If we don’t import it, our textile industry will lag behind and get destroyed,” he added. Gandhi also said that Bangladesh was also giving signals that it may reduce or even stop importing cotton from India. Asad Rehman is with the national bureau of The Indian Express and covers politics and policy focusing on religious minorities in India. A journalist for over eight years, Rehman moved to this role after covering Uttar Pradesh for five years for The Indian Express. During his time in Uttar Pradesh, he covered politics, crime, health, and human rights among other issues. He did extensive ground reports and covered the protests against the new citizenship law during which many were killed in the state. During the Covid pandemic, he did extensive ground reporting on the migration of workers from the metropolitan cities to villages in Uttar Pradesh. He has also covered some landmark litigations, including the Babri Masjid-Ram temple case and the ongoing Gyanvapi-Kashi Vishwanath temple dispute. Prior to that, he worked on The Indian Express national desk for three years where he was a copy editor. Rehman studied at La Martiniere, Lucknow and then went on to do a bachelor's degree in History from Ramjas College, Delhi University. He also has a Masters degree from the AJK Mass Communication Research Centre, Jamia Millia Islamia. ... Read More