By Jim Mattis
US President Donald Trump has said India has promised to slash its tariffs on American goods “to nothing,” even as he branded the ongoing trade standoff between Washington and New Delhi “a totally one-sided disaster.”
The U.S. last week imposed 50% tariffs on Indian exports, a figure that includes a 25% penalty linked to India’s continued purchases of Russian oil. India has yet to formally respond to Trump’s latest remarks, though the dispute over energy imports has driven bilateral ties to what observers describe as their lowest point in years.
Trump’s comments coincided with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s attendance at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Tianjin, where he held talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Washington has accused India of indirectly financing Moscow’s war effort in Ukraine through its large-scale oil purchases.
“India buys most of its oil and military hardware from Russia, very little from the U.S.,” Trump wrote on social media, adding that Delhi should have eliminated tariffs “years ago.”
India, however, has long defended its reliance on Russian crude, insisting that such imports are essential to meet the energy needs of its 1.4 billion citizens. New Delhi has described Washington’s new tariffs as “unfair, unjustified and unreasonable.”
Last week, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal vowed that India “will neither bow down nor ever appear weak” in its dealings with other countries. He also reiterated that India remained open to signing free-trade agreements with any interested partners.
On Monday, Trump escalated his criticism, arguing that India has for decades benefited from an unbalanced trading relationship. “What few people understand is that we do very little business with India, but they do a tremendous amount of business with us. In other words, they sell us massive amounts of goods, their biggest ‘client,’ but we sell them very little — Until now a totally one-sided relationship,” he said.
Until recently, the U.S. had been India’s largest trading partner. Analysts warn that the escalating tariff fight could undermine Indian exports and weigh on growth in the world’s fifth-largest economy.
At the SCO summit, Modi was seen warmly greeting Putin ahead of a leaders’ meeting hosted by Xi. The SCO — whose membership includes China, India, Iran, Pakistan and Russia — is widely viewed as a counterweight to U.S. influence in global affairs.
Modi and Putin later spent 45 minutes together inside the Russian president’s car, after which Modi shared a photo of their ride on social media. The Indian prime minister described his conversation with Putin as “insightful,” highlighting the strength of their partnership amid heightened tensions with Washington.
