'No rationale in sanctioning India but not China': Trump faces heat after Navarro brands Russia-Ukraine conflict ‘Modi’s war’

US President Donald Trump - File Photo

US President Donald Trump has come under criticism after his trade adviser, Peter Navarro, referred to the Russian war on Ukraine as “Modi’s war” in reference to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Navarro made the remark in an interview with Bloomberg TV on Wednesday and confirmed that it was intentional. When asked if it was a slip of the tongue, he said, “I mean Modi’s war because the road to peace runs, in part, through New Delhi.”

Navarro argued that India’s actions were causing losses for Americans. “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, factories and income and higher wages. And then the taxpayers lose because we got to fund Modi’s war,” he said. He added, “What’s troubling to me 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 anyone we want.’ India, you’re the biggest democracy in the world, okay, act like one.”

Navarro’s comments came just hours after Trump’s additional 25 per cent tariff on Indian goods over the purchase of Russian oil took effect. Total tariffs on India now stand at 50 per cent. The Indian government has estimated that the tariffs could affect up to 60 per cent of its exports to the United States, worth around $48 billion. Analysts have warned that the losses could slow India’s annual GDP growth by up to 1 per cent.

The move has drawn criticism from Democrats on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, who said that Trump’s tariffs on India do not match the scale of the problem. “Instead of imposing sanctions on China or others purchasing larger amounts of Russian oil, Trump’s singling out India with tariffs, hurting Americans and sabotaging the US-India relationship in the process,” they said.

South Asia expert Michael Kugelman also criticized Navarro’s statement, noting that India has consistently opposed the Russian war. “Peter Navarro has now called Russia’s war in Ukraine ‘Modi’s war’. I don’t think any non-Western leader has expressed public opposition to the war as clearly and frequently as Modi has,” he said on X.

Even some Trump-supporting analysts questioned the policy. Jeff M Smith, director of the Asian Studies Center at the Heritage Foundation, called it “dumb”. “Yeah, I’m also perplexed. I can’t see the strategic rationale for sanctioning India but not China. Dumb,” he said.

The controversy highlights growing tensions in US-India relations as tariffs take effect and top advisers publicly accuse India of fuelling the war in Ukraine, despite India maintaining that it is not supporting the Russian invasion.