White House trade adviser Peter Navarro has launched a fresh attack on India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, describing the Russia-Ukraine conflict as "Modi's war". The top US official, who has been vocally critical of India's purchases of Russian energy, said that the money Moscow gets through the oil trade is used to fund "its war machine" in Ukraine, reported Bloomberg.
“Everybody in America loses because of what India is doing. The consumers and businesses and everything lose, and workers lose because India’s high tariffs cost us jobs, and factories, and income and higher wages. And then the taxpayers lose because we got to fund Modi’s war,” he said during an interview on Bloomberg TV's Balance of Power.
As he made the remarks, the anchor asked him if misspoke and wanted to say "Putin's war" instead, to which Navarro replied: "I mean Modi's war, because the road to peace runs, in part, through New Delhi."
Navarro argued that Moscow's funding of the conflict with Ukraine leads Kyiv to raise requests for arms and funding with the US. He also asserted that both India and China need to stop the oil trade with Russia, which he said would eventually stop the war in Ukraine.
'Indians are so arrogant'
{{/usCountry}}Navarro argued that Moscow's funding of the conflict with Ukraine leads Kyiv to raise requests for arms and funding with the US. He also asserted that both India and China need to stop the oil trade with Russia, which he said would eventually stop the war in Ukraine.
'Indians are so arrogant'
{{/usCountry}}Further in the same conversation, Peter Navarro hit out at Indians defending its tariffs on the US, calling out their "arrogance"
“What’s troubling to me,” Navarro said, “is that the Indians are so arrogant about this. They say, ‘Oh, we don’t have higher tariffs. Oh, it’s our sovereignty. We can buy oil from any one we want.’”
“India, you’re the biggest democracy in the world, OK, act like one,” Navarro added.
This is not the first time Navarro has targeted India over Russian oil. He had earlier termed India the “Maharaja of tariffs”, and claimed that India's oil trade with Russia was virtually close to nothing before Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. "In India, 25% tariffs were put in place because they cheat us on trade. Then 25% because of the Russian oil... They have higher tariffs, Maharaja tariffs...," Navarro had said.
US President Donald Trump threatened 50% tariffs on Indian imports earlier this month, which came into force on Wednesday. One half of these duties had already taken effect earlier.
The additional 25% tariffs were imposed over India "directly or indirectly importing Russian Federation oil". However, no such additional penalties were imposed on China, the largest buyer of Russian oil.
What was India's response?
After Trump announced the whopping 50% duties on Indian imports, New Delhi had taken a strong stand against the move, calling it "unfair, unjustified and unreasonable".
India had pointed out that the US was acting against India for "actions that several other countries are also taking in their own national interest".
Later, without directly referencing the tariff threat, PM Modi had said that India was ready to pay any price to protect the interest of farmers and the agriculture sector, which accounts for nearly 18% of the country’s gross domestic product.
The Ministry of External Affairs has earlier clarified that its sourcing of energy is "guided by what is on offer in markets and prevailing global situation".