US President Donald Trump on Friday said India and Russia appear to have been "lost" to China, following the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting in China's Tianjin this week.
Trump's latest social media post came days after the powerful display of bonhomie between PM Modi, Xi Jinping and Russian leader Putin during SCO summit caught global attention, especially in the West.
Sharing the photo of Modi-Xi-Putin trio, Trump wrote: “Looks like we’ve lost India and Russia to deepest, darkest, China. May they have a long and prosperous future together!”
Trump's remark comes days after the SCO meet, which is seen as a clear message of defiance against Trump's harsh tariffs, and at a time when the ties between New Delhi and Washington are arguably at the worst phase in the last two decades.
Also Read: ‘It’s gone now': Ex-US NSA on Donald Trump's personal rapport with PM Modi
{{/usCountry}}Also Read: ‘It’s gone now': Ex-US NSA on Donald Trump's personal rapport with PM Modi
{{/usCountry}}The relations between India and the US are on a downturn after Trump doubled tariffs on Indian goods to 50 per cent, which is among the highest on any other country.
On Monday, Trump had called the US' relationship with India "one sided disaster" as he referred to the trade imbalance between the two countries. Trump's remark came as PM Modi, along with several other world leaders, huddled in China for the SCO summit.
“What few people understand is that we do very little business with India, but they do a tremendous amount of business with us,” Trump said in a social media post.
“In other words, they sell us massive amounts of goods, their biggest ‘client’, but we sell them very little…a totally one sided relationship, and it has been for many decades,” he added.
US has blamed New Delhi's oil imports from Russia for the high tariff rates in the US. The two countries are also trying to agree on a trade deal, the deliberations on which are going on for several weeks.
Former US officials blame Trump for 'deteriorating' ties
As the ties between India and the US have took a reverse turn in recent weeks, former US officials have blamed Trump for pushing New Delhi closer to China.
Former US National Security Adviser John Bolton on Thursday said that “once-strong personal rapport” between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Trump is no longer intact as he blamed the US President for "pushing back" the bilateral ties by decades.
Meanwhile, former National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Trump's 'massive trade offensive' against India forced it "to sit with China". He said that the allies now see the US as a 'big disruptor' while China has moved ahead of America in popularity.
"China has moved ahead of the United States in popularity in a whole lot of countries. And that was not the case one year ago, where countries now are basically saying the US brand is in the toilet and China is looking like a responsible player," Sullivan said.
While China is looking like a responsible player at a global stage, the US brand is in the toilet, Sullivan added.