US President Donald Trump has once again criticized New Delhi after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi took part in bilateral and multilateral meetings in Tianjin, China with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
🚨 Breaking News: US President Donald Trump’s new rant on India. pic.twitter.com/CKYaKuKD3P
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In a post on his Truth Social account on Monday, which came just hours after the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit concluded, Trump said Washington’s relationship with New Delhi has been “one sided” for decades.
”What few people understand is that we do very little business with India, but they do a tremendous amount of business with us,” Trump wrote in his post. “In other words, they sell us a massive amount of goods, their biggest ‘client,’ but we sell them very little.”
The US president added, “Until now, a totally one-sided relationship, and it has been for many decades. The reason is that India has charged us, until now, such high Tariffs, the most of any country, that our businesses are unable to sell into India. It has been a totally one-sided disaster.”
Modi held talks with Xi on Sunday, where the leaders agreed that the nations needed to view each other as partners rather than as rivals.
A day later, the Indian leader held bilateral talks with Putin, first in his Aurus limousine and then in a delegation-level format.
“Also, India buys most of its oil and military products from Russia, very little from the US,” Trump wrote on Monday. “They have now offered to cut their Tariffs to nothing, but it’s getting late. They should have done so years ago.”
Last month, the US imposed 25% tariffs on most goods arriving from India after the two countries failed to conclude a trade deal. This was followed by an additional 25% punitive duty for New Delhi’s continued purchases of Russian crude, resulting in a total import tax of 50%.
In the 2024-25 fiscal year, bilateral trade between India and the US stood at $131.8 billion, with a trade surplus of $41.18 billion in favor of New Delhi.