Trump’s trade adviser Peter Navarro called Modi’s camaraderie with Xi and Putin at the SCO summit “troublesome,” urging India to side with the US, Europe, and Ukraine.
The Trump administration has slapped a combined 50% tariff on Indian goods, including extra levies for Russian oil imports, calling India’s stance “profiteering.”
India had defended its Russian crude purchases as a matter of national interest, even as Navarro alleged China was using India as a transshipment hub to bypass sanctions.
President Donald Trump’s top trade adviser Peter Navarro has described the show of unity between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Tianjin as “troublesome.”
According to Indian Express, speaking at the White House, Navarro said: “It was a shame to see Modi getting in bed as the leader of the biggest democracy in the world with the two biggest authoritarian dictators in the world, Putin and Xi Jinping. That doesn't make any sense.”
His remarks came amid one of the lowest points in India-US relations in two decades, with tensions fueled by Trump’s tariff policies and New Delhi’s continued imports of discounted Russian crude oil.
India has defended its procurement of Russian crude, maintaining that its energy policy is guided by national interest and market dynamics. Since Western sanctions on Moscow, Russia has emerged as India’s top energy supplier.
Navarro, however, alleged that India’s oil trade was “nothing but profiteering,” , as cited by The Hindu, claiming Russian refiners offered discounts while India re-exported refined products to Europe and Asia at premium rates.
