Washington: US President Donald Trump’s latest post on social media is extremely meaningful.
As is his habit, Trump took to Truth Social in the early hours of the day (Washington time) to express his thoughts. On Friday, he didn’t make any bombastic announcement or boastful claim. He wrote India and Russia appear to have been lost to China.
“Looks like we’ve lost India and Russia to deepest, darkest, China. May they have a long and prosperous future together!” Trump expressed, sharing a photo of Chinese President Xi Jinping, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The three leaders, who recently met at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in China’s Tianjin, shared great camaraderie which caught global attention.
It’s widely believed that Trump’s stiff tariffs have pushed India, China and Russia to come together and work closely to protect their own trade interests as well as present a strong front against American policies.
Through this message, Trump seems resigned to the prospect of a new reality of losing out India as a close ally. His sarcasm is not lost too, as he wishes the three nations a ‘long and prosperous future together.’
Trump’s decision to levy an additional 25% tax on Indian goods, over and above the 25% reciprocal tariff, has clearly irked New Delhi.
The Trump administration justified the penal tax by accusing India of indirectly funding the war in Ukraine by continuing to purchasing Russian oil.
Earlier this week, Trump called the US’ relationship with India a “one sided disaster”, referring to the trade imbalance between the two countries. His comment came as PM Modi, Xi, Putin and other world leaders got together at the SCO summit.
‘Trump pushing India closer to China’
Even as a stubborn Trump has shown no signs of withdrawing the stiff tariff on India, former US officials have blamed the President for pushing New Delhi closer to China.
Former US National Security Adviser John Bolton observed that “once-strong personal rapport” between Prime Minister Modi and Trump is no longer intact as he blamed the US President for “pushing back” the bilateral ties by decades.
Former National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan opined that Trump’s “massive trade offensive” against India forced it “to sit with China.”
He added that allies now see the US as a “big disruptor”, as China has moved ahead of America in popularity.
“China has moved ahead of the United States in popularity in a whole lot of countries. And that was not the case one year ago, where countries now are basically saying the US brand is in the toilet and China is looking like a responsible player,” Sullivan said.
