A prominent American lawmaker has called out President Donald Trump for “destroying” decades of bipartisan work to build the India-US strategic partnership with his hefty and punitive tariffs on New Delhi. And Trump is doing so just because India did not nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize while Pakistan did, said Indian American Congressman Ro Khanna, the co-chair of the US-India caucus.
“Trump is destroying 30 years of bipartisan work to build the US-India strategic partnership because Modi refuses to nominate him for a Nobel Peace Prize. He imposed higher tariffs of 50% on India than China,” said the lawmaker, questioning how many Indian Americans who had voted for Trump have spoken out over the tariffs.
The US has imposed over 50% tariffs on Indian goods, which includes a 25% levy on New Delhi’s Russian oil imports. This is higher than Brazil and China, Mr Khanna noted.
Read: “We Get Along With India Very Well, But…”: Trump Amid Tariff Tension
He said the tariffs are hurting Indian leather and textiles exports into the US, as well as American manufacturers and exports into India, echoing the concern of several former diplomats and officials that Trump policies are driving India towards China and Russia.
His comments came a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s talks with China’s Xi Jinping and Russia’s Vladimir Putin at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in China offered great optics and sent a strong message to the West.
Mr Khanna sounded the “five-alarm fire”, which denotes a rare emergency, and accused the President of undermining 30 years of efforts to strengthen the US-India alliance.
Decoding the tariff game and geopolitical developments, Mr Khanna pointed out that Trump imposed such high tariffs on India because New Delhi did not recognise him as a peacemaker during its recent conflict with Pakistan.
Read: “Rebuke To Trump”: What US Media Reported On PM Modi, Putin Meeting
“Prime Minister Modi refused to nominate Donald Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize, while Pakistan did. And India has said that the border dispute with Pakistan is an internal matter, refusing to give Donald Trump credit,” said the Congressman in a video message.
The Nobel angle to tariffs has been widely reported despite Trump’s claim that his tariffs on India seek to undo what he calls unfair trade practices and oil imports from Russia.
But the US can’t allow Trump’s ego to destroy the relationship with India, asserted Ro Khanna, calling on Indian Americans to speak up against him.
“We can’t allow the ego of Donald Trump to destroy a strategic relationship with India that is key to ensuring that America leads and not China. To all those Indian Americans who voted for Donald Trump, I’m asking you, where are you today while he destroys this relationship?” said the US lawmaker.
Mr Khanna posted his video message while sharing a post by Indian American businessman Vinod Khosla that said he did not vote for Trump. “If he ever wins the Nobel, I will stop caring about who wins the Nobel. It will be desecrated, dirtbag medal,” the billionaire had said in his post.
