President Donald Trump’s trade advisor Peter Navarro has been spitting venom on India for the past few days, justifying the punitive tariffs the US has imposed on India. So much so, he has suggested on record that the road to the Russia-Ukraine war lies through India, suggesting that if India stops buying Russian oil, Russia will get financially weakened and will not be able to sustain the war, and it will stop.
Another senator and a close Trump aide, Lindsey Graham, claimed that Putin agreed to the Alaska meeting “only after” Donald Trump threatened to impose a 50 per cent tariff on India for buying Russian oil.
It is obvious that there is a sustained campaign going on in the United States to malign India and blame it for “financing Russia’s war against Ukraine” and to treat it on a par with Russia, when there are other countries like China and Turkey which also import Russian oil, but have not faced any such punitive tariffs as India has been slapped with.
While India is estimated to be importing about 38 per cent of Russian crude, China imports about 47 per cent. Yet Trump has not imposed any extra tariff on China for importing Russian oil, while his administration is likely to go ahead with a 25 per cent additional tariff on Indian imports from August 27, as confirmed by trade advisor Navarro.
Trump’s hostile U-turn towards India, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in particular, has shocked and surprised everyone. He would often describe India as a great friend and Modi as his personal friend. Modi had gone out of his way to support his candidature in the 2020 presidential elections, which he lost.
Imagine, if Modi had supported Joe Biden and Trump had won, what would he have done with India.
His vindictive retribution is just revealing and unraveling. His former national security advisor John Bolton’s case is the most recent example of how he has been targeted for disagreeing with Trump on many issues, including his dealings with India.
There is a specific reason for Trump’s hostility, which seems to be turning into a sort of “pathological hatred” within a short span of time. After India and Pakistan ceased their hostilities, Trump started taking credit for it. He still has been claiming that he mediated the ceasefire. Subsequently, he invited Pakistan army chief Asim Munir for lunch at the White House on June 17.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in Canada the same day to attend the G-7 summit. Trump also attended the summit. The two were originally supposed to meet there. But due to Trump’s earlier departure, they could not meet in Canada. Trump called Modi and wanted him to stop over in Washington with the obvious intention of holding a joint meeting there. Trump had already been making claims about having brokered the ceasefire between India and Pakistan, a claim India has been repeatedly rejecting.
Munir was already scheduled for lunch at the White House that day. Modi was wise enough not to get trapped into Trump’s game of a “spontaneous tripartite meeting” between the three: Trump, Modi, and Munir. This would have proved disastrous for Modi back home also, besides amounting to “accepting third-party mediation” with Pakistan on Kashmir.
Trump apparently took Modi for granted, assuming that he would come rushing in at his “invite.” Modi declined the invite curtly, saying that he was already prescheduled to visit another country, Croatia. This obviously hit Trump where it hurts the most: his ego and his claims of a ceasefire that would strengthen his stake for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Shocked over Modi’s refusal to stop over in Washington, Trump started nourishing a personal grudge. Obviously, Modi shattered his plans and dreams to host “Modi and Munir” together like he hosted the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan or the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda.
Trump apparently forgot to realise that Modi is not like Munir or other leaders whom he could coerce or cajole. Modi, the most popularly elected leader in the world, the Prime Minister of India, a country of 1.4 billion people, is not an ordinary leader or some military dictator in waiting. The Prime Minister of India, whosoever s/he may be at any given time, enjoys more popular support than the entire US population.
Modi did the right thing. It was not just his personal dignity, but the dignity of the nation of 1.4 billion people. Modi may well have visualised the consequences, and that is why he refused the invite. He did not compromise on the dignity and prestige of the country, even if it meant overlooking his long personal relationship with Trump. Country indeed comes first.
Coming to the import of Russian oil, that is just an excuse. Trump would have imposed the tariffs anyway, like he has already imposed 25 per cent, other than the further 25 per cent more he is penalising India for importing Russian oil.
By Trump’s standards, if India is financing the war against Ukraine, so is China, and in a bigger way, along with Turkey and some European countries like Hungary. Trump has not imposed any such punitive tariffs on these countries but has singled out India only. This is despite the fact that Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden had especially appealed to India to buy Russian oil to prevent global inflation and ease pressure on Gulf oil. Otherwise, it would have led to a steep hike in global oil prices.
While the US is crying hoarse over the “Maharaja” tariffs by India, its trade deficit with India is $44 billion only. In stark contrast, the US trade deficit with China in 2024 was $295 billion. The US still runs a trade deficit of $2.4 billion with Russia! But it has penalised India only.
Hell hath no fury like “a” Trump scorned.
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