A number of farmers’ organizations, including the Sayunk Kisan Morcha, its non-political separatist faction, and the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) criticized the India-US trade deal and announced protests against it across the country next week.
A statement issued here on Saturday, hours after a joint statement between the countries, said the proposed framework for an interim trade agreement between India and the United States represented a “complete handover” of Indian agriculture to US multinational corporations. The statement also demanded the immediate resignation of Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal.
Under the terms of the interim trade deal, India will “eliminate or reduce tariffs on all US manufactured goods” and on other food and agricultural products.
The United States will apply a reciprocal tariff of 18 percent on goods from India, including textiles and clothing, leather and footwear, plastics and rubber, organic chemicals and some machinery, the joint statement added.
The terms were released after US President Donald Trump announced a trade deal with India on Monday and said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised to stop purchases of Russian oil.
All India protests on 12 February
In an online press conference on Saturday, SKM leaders said protests would be held across the country in villages and would burn effigies of US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. SKM extended its support to the general strike of February 12.
All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) leader Krishna Prasad was quoted by news agency PTI as saying that the trade deal will have a profound impact on the agriculture sector by opening up the market for items such as dry miller’s grains, red sorghum for animal feed and soybean oil, and also claimed that it will have an impact on the dairy sector.
He said the deals with the US and the European Union (EU) were made to benefit their “stagnant” economies and were not beneficial to India.
Activist Sunilam said the issue should be discussed in Parliament.
Krantikari Kisan Union (Punjab) leader Darshan Pal said members of the organization would burn effigies of Trump and Modi in protest. He said the deal will further affect farmers who are already facing low incomes and are unable to repay their loans.
Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait said people in the villages were wondering how the agreements would affect them. He called on farmers to join the protest against the stores.
“The framework is an ugly repudiation of Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal’s claim that agriculture and the dairy sector are outside FTAs and the Government of India will not compromise on the interests of agriculture,” SKM said in a statement.
Interests would be protected: Goyal
Goyal had earlier assured farmers that their interests would be protected, adding that key red lines drawn by New Delhi had not been crossed.
He said “no concessions” were extended in “sensitive areas” such as grains, spices, dairy products, poultry, meat and several vegetables and fruits – including potatoes, oranges and strawberries.
“The Minister of Trade is knowingly spreading lies and betraying farmers and the entire people. SKM considers the role of the Minister of Trade to be a traitor and demands his immediate resignation,” SKM said.
“SKM also demands that the Prime Minister desist from signing the Indo-US Free Trade Agreement or face a massive pan-India united mass struggle,” it said.
The SKM called on all political parties, farmers’ and agricultural workers’ organizations, trade unions and all mass and class organizations to join the protest demonstrations for the general strike on February 12.
SKM (Non-Political) also said in a statement that it will meet soon and announce large-scale protests against the India-US FTA, adding that Indian farmers will not tolerate any such deal.
According to a statement, farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal said that while Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal was tweeting that the agriculture and dairy sector would be protected, a joint India-US statement said India had agreed to discuss and resolve non-tariff barriers imposed on US agricultural and food products.
The Common Platform of the Central Trade Unions (CTU) and sectoral federations and associations announced a one-day general strike on 12 February against the imposition of labor laws and trade agreements.
India-US trade agreement
Between January and November 2025, when New Delhi was negotiating with Washington, India’s imports of US agricultural goods rose 34 percent year-on-year to just under $2.9 billion, according to the AFP news agency.
Major imports included cotton, soybean oil, ethanol, and various nuts such as almonds. This was before the trade deal, although the increase is partly due to India reducing tariffs on some of these US items.
The commerce minister is knowingly spreading lies and betraying the farmers and the entire people.
Experts said the further reduction in tariffs on products such as soybean oil, which was announced in a joint statement, is likely to lead to a surge in goods imported by India from the US.