US President Donald Trump has once again talked about increasing tariff on India. In a post on the social media platform Truth Social, he wrote, "India is not only buying a large amount of oil from Russia, but is also making huge profits by selling a large part of this oil in the open market. They do not care how many people Russia's war machine is killing in Ukraine. For this reason, I am going to increase the tariff on India."
Earlier, on July 30, Trump had also announced a 25 percent tariff on India.
He had also said that if India continues to buy military equipment and oil from Russia, then additional penalty can also be imposed in addition to the existing tariff. Trump alleges that this purchase by India is helping Russia continue the war in Ukraine.
India has become one of Trump’s top targets
India has become one of Trump’s top targets as he attempts to pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin to end his war in Ukraine. Trump had lashed out at India last week as well, criticizing it for joining the BRICS grouping of developing countries and maintaining close ties with Russia, saying “they can take their dead economies down together.”
The criticism showed a big change in how the US talks about India. For a long time, the US ignored India's strong relationship with Russia while trying to build a partnership with India to balance China's influence in Asia. Now, Trump seems ready to change that approach to gain an advantage over Putin, who has not cooperated with Trump's attempts to stop the fighting in Ukraine.
Prakash Kumar Pandey