US President Donald Trump said India has offered to cut its tariffs “to nothing” even as he described the current trade standoff with the country as “a totally one-sided disaster.”
The remarks come after the United States imposed tariffs of 50% on certain Indian goods last week, including a 25% penalty linked to Delhi’s continued purchase of Russian oil. India has not formally responded to Trump’s latest comments, but tensions over the issue of Russian energy have strained ties between Washington and New Delhi to historic lows.
Trump accused India of benefiting disproportionately in trade, writing that the country sells “massive amounts of goods” to the US, while America exports comparatively little. “Until now a totally one-sided relationship, and it has been for many decades,” he added.
The comments coincided with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Tianjin, where he met Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The SCO, which also includes Iran, Pakistan, and several Central Asian states, is widely viewed as a forum challenging US influence on the global stage.
During the summit, Modi and Putin were photographed shaking hands and later spent 45 minutes in a car together, which Modi shared publicly, calling their discussion “insightful.”
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India maintains that Russian oil remains essential to meet the energy needs of its vast population and has criticized the US tariffs as “unfair, unjustified and unreasonable.” Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal has emphasized that India “will neither bow down nor ever appear weak” in economic negotiations and remains open to free-trade agreements with willing partners.
Trump also criticized India for relying heavily on Russian military and energy imports while conducting minimal trade with the US. He suggested that cutting tariffs “years ago” could have averted the current conflict and underlined the imbalance in bilateral trade.
The imposition of US tariffs has raised concerns about potential impacts on Indian exports and economic growth, even as New Delhi seeks to balance strategic partnerships with Moscow while engaging in global trade negotiations.
