New York: President Donald Trump’s actions are destroying the partnership with India, a prominent US lawmaker and two former top officials have said, cautioning that the American leader’s “ego” cannot be allowed to destroy a “strategic relationship” with the world’s largest democracy.
Indian-American Congressman Ro Khanna, the co-chair of the US-India caucus, said he is sounding the “five-alarm fire” on what Trump is doing to “destroy” the US-India partnership.
Khanna accused Trump of “undermining 30 years of bipartisan work to strengthen the US-India alliance,” citing the imposition of 50% tariffs on Indian goods, including a 25% levy on New Delhi’s purchase of Russian oil.
“He has imposed a 50 percent tariff on India, higher than any other country other than Brazil. It’s a higher tariff than the tariff on China. It is hurting India’s exports of leather and textiles into the United States. And it’s hurting American manufacturers and our exports into India. It is also driving India towards China and towards Russia,” Khanna said in a video posted on his X handle.
“Now, why is this happening? For very simple reasons. Prime Minister Modi refused to nominate Donald Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize. Well, Pakistan did. And India has said that the border dispute with Pakistan is an internal matter, refusing to give Donald Trump credit,” he added.
The Congressman stressed the strategic importance of the US-India relationship.
“We can’t allow the ego of Donald Trump to destroy a strategic relationship with India that is key to ensuring that America leads and not China. To all those Indian-Americans who voted for Donald Trump, I’m asking you, where are you today while he destroys this relationship?” he said.
Former US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan alleged earlier in the day that Trump has “thrown away” ties with India over Pakistan’s willingness to do business with Trump’s family.
In an interview with MeidasTouch Network, Sullivan said, “US has worked to build a relationship with India, a country that we should be aligned with on technology, talent, economics and so many issues. And align with dealing with strategic threats from China. Now. I think because of Pakistan’s willingness to do business with the Trump’s family, Trump has thrown away India relationship on side. Germany or Japan will look at that (India) and say that could be us tomorrow. America’s friends will think that they can’t rely on us in any way.”
Sullivan’s remarks come amid concerns over the 50 percent tariffs imposed on Indian goods, including a 25 percent penalty on Russian oil purchases, highlighting the economic and strategic fallout from Trump’s decisions.
Meanwhile, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent expressed confidence that India and the US will resolve trade friction, noting India’s democratic values align more closely with Washington than with China or Russia.
“This is a longstanding meeting, it’s called the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and I think it’s largely performative. I think at the end of the day; India is the most populous democracy in the world. Their values are much closer to ours and to China’s than to Russia’s. I think at the end of the day, two great countries will get this solved. But the Indians have not been great actors in terms of buying Russian oil and then reselling it, financing the Russian war effort in Ukraine,” Bessent said in an interview with Fox Business.
White House trade adviser Peter Navarro criticised PM Modi for meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
“It was a shame to see Modi getting in bed as a leader of the biggest democracy in the world with the two biggest authoritarian dictators in the world – Putin and Xi Jinping. That doesn’t make any sense. I am not sure what he’s thinking. We hope he comes around to seeing that he needs to be with us, Europe and Ukraine, not Russia,” he said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his address at the SCO Summit, highlighted the need to strengthen connectivity between member countries to boost trade, growth, and trust.
“India has always believed that strong connectivity not only boosts trade but also opens doors to growth and trust,” he said.
