US President Donald Trump on Friday appeared resigned to having lost India and Russia to China, even as his commerce secretary Howard Lutnick exuded confidence that New Delhi would shed its “bravado” in a couple of months, “say sorry” and seek a deal with Washington.
The contrasting voices from the Trump administration left everyone guessing.
“Looks like we’ve lost India and Russia to deepest, darkest, China. May they have a long and prosperous future together!” the US President wrote on Truth Social. He also posted a photograph of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
Prodded for a response to Trump’s post at the weekly briefing, external affairs ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal said: “I have no comments to offer on this post at this moment.”
Trump appeared to be commenting on the bonhomie on display at the just-concluded Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Tianjin where Modi, Putin and Xi were seen in a huddle that was widely projected as a possible realignment of global politics. Trump, who had earlier mocked his predecessor Joe Biden for bringing China and Russia closer, took no responsibility for his role in pushing Russia and India towards China.
However, South Asia analyst Michael Kugelman saw Trump’s remarks as aimed at his core base. “India has, of course, not been ‘lost’ to China.”
Kugelman said: “But this continuous overheated rhetoric from the President is galvanising his base and driving narratives against India on sensitive issues like visa and immigration. With the relationship in crisis, this isn’t merely background noise.”
Although Jaiswal did not comment on Trump’s remark, he underscored that New Delhi remained invested in the India-US relationship and that various other components of bilateral ties remained on track.
Jaiswal listed the recent engagements between the US and India, including an ongoing joint military exercisein Alaska.
“This relationship is important for us. Both our countries share a comprehensive global strategic partnership, which is anchored in our shared interests, democratic values and robust people-to-people ties. This partnership has weathered several transitions and challenges. We remain focused on the substantive agenda that our two countries have committed to, and we hope that the relationship will continue to moveforward based on mutual respect and shared interests,” Jaiswal added.
On whether the Quad summit, which India is scheduled to host this year, will take place amid reports in the US media that Trump would not attend, Jaiswal said: “I would not like to comment on speculative media reports on the issue. The Quad is a valuable forum for discussion on shared interests in a number of areas. The Leaders’ Summit is scheduled through diplomatic consultations among the four partners.”
‘Bravado’ jab
Lutnick, in an interview with Bloomberg TV, appeared to expect India to go the Canada way and succumb to US pressure eventually.
Asked if there was any chance of lowering the tariff rates on India, Lutnick said: “I would expect, like you saw in Canada… Carney got elected with this term elbows up, meaning let’s fight with America. They put on retaliatory tariffs. They were all bravado. And what happened — their GDP negative 1.6 per cent, unemployment rocketing towards 8 per cent. And, what did Carney just do? He just finally, finally, dropped his retaliatory tariffs.
“So, I think what happens is — it’s all bravado because we think it feels good to fight with the biggest client in the world. But, eventually, your businesses are going to say, ‘You have got to stop this and go make a deal with America’. So, I think, yes, in a month or two months I think India is going to be at the table and they’re going to say they’re sorry and they’re going to try to make a deal with Donald Trump. And, it will be at Donald Trump’s desk how he wants to deal with Modi. And, we leave that to him. That’s why he is the President.”
Nirmala firm on oil
Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman told CNBC TV18 on Friday: “Whether it is Russian oil or anything else, we will take a call based on what suits our needs in terms of rates, logistics or whatever. Where we buy our oil from, especially it being a big-ticket foreign exchange-related item, is a call we will take based on what suits us best. So, we will undoubtedly be buying Russian oil.”