New Delhi: US President Donald Trump targeted India twice during his speech at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York on Tuesday.
The first mention of India in his speech of just under an hour referred to a claim he has made umpteen times in the last four months — that he “stopped a war” between India and Pakistan, one among seven ‘unendable’ wars he claimed to have ended.
The second ‘India’ mention was also a repeat, but more acerbic and a tad surprising given the recent revival of trade deal talks and renewed bonhomie between Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi after weeks of lull.
While on the issue of the long-running war in Ukraine, Trump said China and India are the “primary funders” of the ongoing conflict by continuing to purchase Russian oil.
According to Trump, the war, which should have been stopped in few days, has gone on for well over three years because of poor leadership.
“Of the seven wars that I stopped, I thought that it would be the easiest because of my relationship with President Vladimir Putin, which has always been a good one… It should have taken a matter of days, certainly less than a week. But they have been fighting for three-and-a-half years.”
Not for the first time, the US President went on to blame China and India for purchase of Russian oil, even as he attacked NATO countries for buying Russian energy products.
“The only question now is how many more lives would be needlessly lost on both sides. China and India are the primary funders of the ongoing war by continuing to purchase Russian oil… Even NATO countries have not cut off Russian energy products,” Trump stated.
Threat of ‘another round of tariffs’
Trump threatened another round of tariffs to stop the war quickly.
“To end the war, the US is fully prepared to impose a very strong round of powerful tariffs which would stop the bloodshed very quickly,” Trump warned.
For the first time, he reiterated his claim of resolving seven wars, including the India-Pakistan conflict, at the UN stage.
“In just 7 months, I have ended 7 unendable wars. They said they were unendable, some were going for 31 years, one was 36 years. I ended 7 wars, and in all cases they were raging with countless thousands of people being killed,” Trump said. He listed the conflicts he claimed to have mediated as Cambodia and Thailand, Serbia, the Congo and Rwanda, Pakistan and India, Israel and Iran, Egypt and Ethiopia, and Armenia and Azerbaijan.
India has repeatedly denied any third-party mediation to halt the conflict on May 10.
