President Donald Trump's top trade adviser Peter Navarro has described as "troublesome" the show of unity between the leaders of India, Russia and China, saying New Delhi needs to be with Washington, Europe and Ukraine, not with Russia.
His comments come as Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping publicly displayed bonhomie during the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Tianjin on Monday.
“It’s troublesome. It's troublesome,” Navarro said at the White House when asked about the “show of unity” between Modi, Xi and Putin.
"It was a shame to see Modi getting in bed as the 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," said Navarro, the Trump administration’s Senior Counsellor for Trade and Manufacturing.
His remarks, and the display of camaraderie between Modi, Putin and Xi, came against the backdrop of possibly the worst phase in India-US relations in over two decades, with the strain exacerbated by Trump's tariff policy and constant criticism of New Delhi by his administration.
"I'm not sure what he (Modi) is thinking, particularly since India has been in a cold war and sometimes a hot war with China for decades. So we hope that the Indian leader comes around to seeing that he needs to be with us and Europe and Ukraine and not with Russia on this, and he needs to stop buying the oil,” Navarro said.
The Trump administration has imposed 25 per cent reciprocal tariffs on India and an additional 25 per cent levies for Delhi’s purchases of Russian oil, bringing the total duties imposed on India to 50 per cent, among the highest in the world.
India has called the tariffs imposed by the US “unjustified and unreasonable”.
Defending its purchase of Russian crude oil, India has been maintaining that its energy procurement is driven by national interest and market dynamics.
Russia has emerged as India's top energy supplier since the West slapped sanctions on its crude oil after the invasion of Ukraine.
"India is the biggest democracy in the world by population. Historically, India has been in a cold war with communist China for decades," Navarro said, adding that Beijing has "funded Pakistan's military" and helped Islamabad "develop its nuclear weapons".
"China has invaded India repeatedly, particularly a place called Aksai Chin, and actually has taken territory from India and still holds it," he said, adding that the Chinese patrol now "far into the Indian Ocean and are challenging Indian sovereignty in the Indian Ocean".
"...But at the same time, we're seeing China and its entrepreneurs and oil refiners getting into bed with Indian business people, and that relationship is toxic,” he said.
Navarro claimed that China is using India as a “big transshipment hub” to avoid the Chinese tariffs.
Asserting that the road to peace in Ukraine “in many ways, runs at least partly through New Delhi", Navarro said that “it’s time for Modi to step up." "I have great respect for Modi. I love the Indian people,” he said.
He said that every American should thank Trump for “flagging this issue and calling India out on these issues, because we don't want to be about the business of trying to defend Ukraine with funds and weapons and things like that, when our money is going to somebody who's cheating us, and they're using that money to give to the Russians to buy weapons, kill Ukrainians and then use their taxpayer money." Navarro, who had earlier described the Ukraine conflict as “Modi’s war”, further said that India has the highest tariffs of any major country in the world and is in "denial" about that.
“It tries to tell everybody out there that that's not true when it is demonstrably true," he said.
"So they (India) should engage with us. They haven't done that as Japan, Korea, the Philippines, Indonesia, and the European Union have. They simply think they (can) continue having their way with us,” he said, adding that Trump is not going to allow that.
On India’s oil purchases from Russia, Navarro said that this is an "incredible situation." “India, for all practical purposes, did not buy any oil to speak of from Russia before Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022,” he said.
"The way this oil trade worked is once Russia invaded and they were figuring out ways around to sell their oil, Russian refiners went to refiners in India, got in bed with them. Some of them actually helped produce right in India. Now, Putin gives India a discount on crude. They refine it, sell at premium prices to Europe, Asia and Africa. It's nothing but profiteering," he alleged.
"India cannot stand on the thin reed that somehow they need this oil to run their cars or cool their homes. It's false. Just simply false," he said.
He said that India charges the "highest tariffs in the world" and has the "highest non-tariff barriers".
"India then uses the money we give them, buying their exports, to buy Russian oil. The Russians use the money from the Russian oil to build more bombs and weapons and drones to kill Ukrainians, and then the Ukrainians come to us and Europe to ask for more money from our taxpayers to pay for that. That's crazy,” he claimed.
