Navarro says PM Modi 'did not feel comfortable' in meet with Xi Jinping at SCO Summit

Navarro slammed New Delhi again for buying oil from Russia, saying the purchases didn’t happen before 2022.

Continuing his tirade against India, US White House Trade adviser Peter Navarro claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi “did not feel comfortable” standing next to Chinese President Xi Jinping during the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s Summit in Tianjin last month as New Delhi sought to bolster its ties with Beijing and Moscow after relationship with Washington soured over trade disputes.

Navarro slammed New Delhi again for buying oil from Russia, saying the purchases didn’t happen before 2022.

"And by the way, there's this issue of India buying Russian oil, which it never did. You understand this. It never did that before 2022. I mean, the Indian refiners got in bed with the Russian refiners immediately after the invasion, and they're making out like bandits. I mean, it's like it’s crazy stuff because they make money off of us in unfair trade. Okay, so American workers get screwed, right?" he said during an interview with CNBC.

The top trade official also said that India is coming to the negotiating table. "India is coming to the table. Prime Minister Narendra Modi sent out a very conciliatory, nice, constructive tweet, and President Trump responded to that. We'll see how this works," he said.

Navarro said in the interview that the countries are still negotiating on the trade issue, and are working on 'trade barriers'.

"But as a practical matter, we know that on the trade side, they have the highest tariffs of any major country. They have very high non-tariff barriers. We had to deal with that, like we're dealing with every other country that does that," he said.

Navarro then criticised India for its tie-up with Russia and China.

"Then they use that money to buy Russian oil, and then the Russians use that to buy weapons. And then we, as taxpayers, have to pay more for this, for the defence of Ukraine. And so how can that be? And watching Modi on a stage with China, which has been its long-term existential threat. And Putin, that was an interesting stretch. I don't think he felt comfortable doing it," he said in the interview with CNBC.