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'Can't just forget and forgive': Shashi Tharoor on ‘new tone’ in Trump-Modi ties amid US tariff aggression | Watch
“I don't think we can just completely forget either the 50 per cent tariffs or the insults that have accompanied it from both President and staff,” Tharoor said
“Mr Trump has a fairly mercurial temperament” was Congress MP Shashi Tharoor's caveat on Sunday, when he was asked about the perceived thaw in India-US relations after President Donald Trump and PM Narendra Modi exchanged some mutual admiration via the press and social media.
“I don't think we can just completely forget either the 50 per cent tariffs or the insults that have accompanied it from both the President and his staff,” Tharoor said, speaking to reporters in Thiruvananthapuram, his Lok Sabha constituency, in Kerala.
To a question pointedly about US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick's remarks — that India will soon “say sorry and try to make a deal with Trump” — Tharoor responded curtly: “I don't think we have anything to say sorry about at all. India has behaved with a great deal of maturity on all of this.”
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“There's some serious repair work that needs to be done by governments and diplomats on both sides. Mr Trump has a fairly mercurial temperament and what he has been saying has caused some hurt and offence in our country. The 50 per cent tariffs have actually had consequences already,” he further said in a video shared by ANI.
Among positives, he noted that the Indian foreign minister has highlighted the "comprehensive global strategic partnership" between the two countries. He said this was an important message for India to convey.
But he advised a "spirit of caution" regarding the “new tone”.
A former global diplomat and ex-minister, Tharoor argued that one should not "forget and forgive so quickly" because the Indian people are facing real-world consequences that need to be addressed before moving forward on trade ties now.
He also underlined that a Modi-Trump meeting — at a time when trade deal talks are already stalled — wasn't likely anytime soon.
PM Modi is not going to the US for a United Nations meet, and foreign minister S Jaishankar will be there on a day when Trump won't be, he noted.
Away from what Tharoor said, there are already signs from the US side that the thaw may not quite be what it is being seen as.
US treasury secretary Scott Bessent said earlier on Sunday that more sanctions on Russia and the countries that buy oil from it — which prominently includes India — can bring about an economic “collapse”. He said only such a collapse could bring Vladimir Putin back to the table and have peace talks with Ukraine.
Tharoor was not asked about this, nor did he mention it or was necessarily aware of Bessent's comment. But it lined up with his note of caution.
Another former Indian diplomat, KP Fabian, however, said earlier in the day that Trump is beginning to realise that his aggressive trade tactics with India, particularly the additional 25 per cent tariff due to New Delhi's purchase of Russian oil — taking the total to 50 per cent – “did not produce the desired outcome”. Trump wanted India to “surrender”, he said.
