‘Shame’: Trump trade adviser’s fresh attack on India after RIC huddle at SCO; takes jibe at PM Modi

NEW DELHI: US President Donald Trump’s trade adviser Peter Navarro on Tuesday said that “it is a shame” Prime Minister Narendra Modi shared the stage with the “two biggest authoritarian dictators” in the world during the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in China.While talking to reporters, Navarro said that PM Modi needs to step up and be with Europe and Ukraine, and stop “buying oil from Russia.”“The road to peace in many ways runs at least partly through New Delhi. It’s time for Modi to step up. I have great respect for Modi. I love the Indian people. 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,” Navarro said.“So we hope that the Indian leader comes around to seeing that he needs to be with us in Europe and Ukraine and not with Russia on this, and he needs to stop buying the oil,” he added.This comes a day after the White House trade counselor ignited a firestorm in the ongoing US-India trade spat, alleging, in reference to India selling refined Russian oil to the West, that “Brahmins are profiteering at the expense of the Indian people.”“Look, Modi’s a great leader. I don’t understand why he’s getting into bed with Putin and Xi Jinping when he’s the biggest democracy in the world. So I would just simply say to the Indian people: please, understand what’s going on here. You’ve got Brahmins profiteering at the expense of the Indian people. We need that to stop. Yeah, and we’ll be watching that closely,” he said during an interview with Fox News.Navarro has made multiple jabs at India as the latter refuses to budge on ceasing trade with Russia. These included calling the Russia-Ukraine war “Modi’s war,” branding India “Kremlin’s laundromat,” and accusing New Delhi of fueling the Ukraine war for profit.The Trump administration, earlier this month, ramped up attacks on India for buying Russian oil, with Navarro characterizing the Russia-Ukraine conflict as “Modi’s war,” and cautioning New Delhi about getting close to Beijing and Moscow.“India, you’re the biggest democracy in the world, okay? Act like one… side with the democracies. (Instead) you’re getting in bed with the authoritarians,” Navarro had said, just hours after 50% tariffs on India went into effect.Trump has imposed 25 per cent reciprocal tariffs on India and an additional 25 per cent for Delhi’s purchases of Russian oil.India has termed the tariffs imposed on it as “unjustified and unreasonable.”“Like any major economy, India will take all necessary measures to safeguard its national interests and economic security,” India has said.Meanwhile, on Friday, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled that most of Trump’s sweeping global tariffs are unlawful.Following this, the Democrats on the House Foreign Affairs Committee called on Speaker Mike Johnson to put on the floor US Representative Gregory Meeks’ resolution to terminate Trump’s “national emergency” declaration, which he used to impose the massive tariffs.Quoting Meeks in a social media post, it also called for the Speaker to “stop covering for Trump’s lawlessness.”