The strategic partnership between the US and India is being considerably undermined by the Trump administration’s “confrontational” commerce insurance policies, a Democratic lawmaker stated within the US Congress. At a listening to of the Home International Affairs Subcommittee on the US-India Strategic Partnership, the viral picture of Prime Minister Narendra Modi sharing a automobile with Russian President Vladimir Putin was used as stark proof of the deteriorating partnership.
The Democratic Rating Member Sydney Kamlager-Dove waved the image, claiming it was not India, however the US who weakened the partnership and pushed New Delhi towards Moscow.
Tariffs and Coercion Accused of Undermining Belief
Kamager-Dove blamed Trump for undoing many years of bipartisan work on various points, particularly attacking his aggressive tariff regime slapped on India.
“Chopping Off Our Nostril“: The Democrat stated, “Trump’s insurance policies in the direction of India can solely be described as slicing off our nostril to spite our face, and that is doing actual and lasting injury to the strategic belief and mutual understanding between our two nations.”
The Value of Coercion: Gesturing to the Modi-Putin poster, she warned, “Being a coercive companion has a value, and this poster is price a thousand phrases.”
Tariff Burden: The factors of friction are Trump’s 25% “Liberation Day tariffs,” added to a different 25% levy on India’s imports of Russian oil—a cumulative 50% tariff burden. Kamlager-Dove famous, “The tariff charge on India is at the moment increased than the tariff charge on China.”
The Symbolic Modi-Putin Gesture
The {photograph} used as a warning shot was taken throughout President Putin’s latest two-day go to to Delhi. PM Modi personally obtained Putin on the airport, and the 2 leaders shared a automobile to the Prime Minister’s residence, a gesture seen by each nations as an indication of shut private rapport. They’d final shared a automobile in the course of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in China.
Strategic Malpractice and H-1B Charges
Democrats additionally criticized insurance policies extending past commerce, arguing these injury people-to-people ties.
H-1B Visa Price: Trump’s $100,000 payment on H-1B visas—70% of that are held by Indians—was characterised as “a rebuke of the unbelievable contributions Indians have made” within the US.
Warnings of Loss: Kamlager-Dove gave a critical warning: “Until he modifies course, Trump would be the American president who misplaced India.”
Knowledgeable Testimony: Witnesses, who included Dhruva Jaishankar of ORF America, testified that the tariff struggle threatens to detract from the urgent strategic imperatives of countering China and stabilising provide chains. “It might be strategic malpractice of the best order to discard the belief we’ve constructed,” one witness stated.
The Congressional listening to concluded that the tariff confrontation has turn out to be essentially the most politically charged subject within the US-India relationship, carrying important geopolitical penalties.
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