Reuters: White House Advisor Peter Navarro has intensified his criticism of India’s trade relations with Russia, calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit “shameful”, according to NDTV.
His comments came a day after Modi visited China to attend the SCO summit and meet the two leaders.
“It is a shame to see [PM] Modi getting in bed with Xi Jinping and Putin. I’m not sure what he’s thinking. We hope he comes around to seeing that he needs to be with us and not Russia,” he was quoted as saying by NDTV.
Trump announced his tariff measures on India, the White House trade czar has frequently criticised New Delhi’s ongoing crude trade with Moscow, claiming that the oil purchase revenue was funding Putin’s war on Ukraine, a conflict Trump has failed to resolve despite previous claims.
In earlier remarks, Navarro had labelled India the “Maharaja of tariffs”, claiming New Delhi imposes some of the highest tariffs among major economies and refuses to acknowledge it.
“There’s a two-prong problem with India…Twenty-five per cent is reciprocal — because of unfair trade — and the other 25 per cent is because India is buying oil from Russia,” Navarro said.
“They are in denial about that…They try to tell everybody that it’s not true — and it is demonstrably true.”
He also called India a “laundromat for the Kremlin”, the NDTV reports, alleging Indian refiners were buying discounted Russian crude oil, processing it, and exporting it at a profit.
“It kills Ukrainians… and what do we, as taxpayers, have to do? We’ve got to send them more money,” he said.
Navarro also defended Trump administration punitive tariffs on Indian exports and argued that India’s ties with Moscow and Beijing were undermining global stability.
INDIA’S STAND
India has defended its purchases of Russian crude oil, saying it was necessary to keep energy prices low and stabilise its domestic market.. It has also called US actions “unjustified”.
India is the only major economy to be hit by what Trump has described as “secondary tariffs”, despite China being another major buyer of Russian crude.
