New Delhi: At a time when Indo-US relations seem to be teetering on the edge of instability, thanks to Donald Trump’s imposition of 50 per cent tariffs because of India’s continued oil imports from Russia, one of the US President’s aides added insult to injury.
Trump’s Trade Advisor Peter Navarro said on Thursday India was “the maharaja of tariffs,” adding that it was important to understand that the rationale for the Indian tariffs is very different from the reciprocal tariffs.
“This was a pure national security issue associated with India’s abject refusal to stop buying Russian oil,” Navarro said.
He also talked about why the US government did not impose additional tariffs on China for continuing import Russian oil.
The White House official explained that the US has already slapped 50 per cent tariffs on China, so they don’t want to be at a point where it hurts the US only.
“As the boss says, let’s see what happens. Keep in mind that we have over 50 per cent tariffs on China already… so we don’t want to get to a point where we actually hurt ourselves,” Navarro stated.
Trump earlier imposed 25 per cent tariffs on India, which he increased to 50 per cent on Wednesday as punishment for buying Russian oil. The US President also threatened to impose secondary tariffs.
Navarro further criticised India for importing Russian oil, saying that Narendra Modi’s government uses American dollars to pay Russia for energy and Russia then uses that money to finance its military to kill Ukrainians.
“And then American taxpayers are called upon to pay for the weapons that have to defend Ukraine against Russian armaments paid for by American dollars that came from India,” Navarro fumed.
