U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday said that India and Russia appear to have been lost to what he described as ‘deepest, darkest’ China. This comes days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit.
In a post on the Truth Social platform, Trump said, “Looks like we’ve lost India and Russia to deepest, darkest, China. May they have a long and prosperous future together!”
MEA Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal reacting to Trump’s post during media briefing said, “I have no comments to offer on this post at this time.”
US Tariffs On India
Nearly a month ago, the US President signed an executive order imposing an additional 25 percent tariff on imports from India and cited New Delhi’s oil trade with Russia.
The order had stated that New Delhi is directly or indirectly importing oil from Russia, which Washington considers a threat to its national security and foreign policy.
On the other hand, Trump also held a high-level meeting with Putin along with their top officials in Alaska, US.
Trump On US-India Trade
Trump on Monday escalated his criticism of the US’ trade ties with India and called the business relationship a “one-sided disaster”.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump argued that while India exports “massive amounts of goods” to the United States, American companies face high tariff barriers that severely limit their ability to sell into the Indian market. “What few people understand is that we do very little business with India, but they do a tremendous amount of business with us.”
According to Trump, India has historically imposed high Tariffs, “the most of any country”, creating what he described as an imbalanced and unfair trade relationship lasting “for many decades”. He claimed that this situation left American businesses at a disadvantage while making the US India’s “biggest client”.
PM Modi’s China Visit
During his visit, PM Modi held talks with Xi Jinping, during which both leaders pledged to address lingering border disputes and enhance cooperation between India and China. This marked the Prime Minister’s first visit to China in seven years.
As per IANS, the meeting came amid a gradual stabilisation of India-China ties after the leadership of both nations reached an understanding in Russia in 2024.
