Tariff 'maharaja' to 'Modi's Ukraine war': Peter Navarro's allegations against India over Russia trade
Peter Navarro has accused India of playing a part in Russia's funding of the "war machine" in Ukraine.
White House trade adviser Peter Navarro has yet again took a swipe at India over doing purchasing crude oil from Russia. He has been a staunch critic of India's trade policies with the country, be it the purchase of military equipment or energy.
While India has clarified that its policies on energy deals are guided by the offer in markets and the global situation, Navarro has accused India of playing a part in Russia's funding of the "war machine" in Ukraine.
A key aide of US President Donald Trump, Navarro is seen as a major force behind the US’s retaliatory tariffs.
Trump had announced additional 25% tariffs on Indian imports over doing oil trade with Russia, a warning that took effect on Wednesday, August 27. Navarro has since been defending the move, targeting India for continuing to buy Russian oil.
'Maharaja of tariffs'
The White House official has repeatedly used this term for India, first making the comment just days after Trump's tariff announcement. He had justified US's move of not slapping similar penalties on China, Russia's largest oil buyer.
"It's important to understand that the rationale for the Indian tariffs are very different from the reciprocal tariffs. This was a pure national security issue associated with India's abject refusal to stop buying Russian oil," Navarro said as he called India the 'Maharaja of tariffs'.
Over a week later, he again used the same term for India, this time in an opinion piece for the Financial Times. He termed India’s oil trade with Russia “opportunistic” and “corrosive” to global efforts being made to isolate the Russian economy.
“As Russia continues to hammer Ukraine, helped by India’s financial support, American (and European) taxpayers are then forced to spend tens of billions more to help Ukraine’s defence. Meanwhile, India keeps slamming the door on American exports through high tariffs and trade barriers. More than 300,000 soldiers and civilians have been killed, while Nato’s eastern flank grows more exposed and the west foots the bill for India’s oil laundering,” wrote Navarro.
'Laundromat for Kremlin'
Peter Navarro intensified his attacks against India just a few days ahead of the additional tariff deadline again, this time calling India a "laundromat for the Kremlin".
While he called Prime Minister Narendra Modi a "great leader" and expressed his "love" for India, he also urged the country to assess its role into the global economy. "What you're doing right now is not creating peace. It's perpetuating the war," he had said.
He had also alleged that India's trade with Russia was "a refining profiteering scheme".
"In India, 25% tariffs were put in place because they cheat us on trade. Then 25% because of the Russian oil... They have higher tariffs, Maharaja tariffs...," Navarro said, adding that there's a massive trade deficit between India and the US which hurts American businesses.
'Cozying up to Xi Jinping'
While there wasn't and still aren't any additional penalties announced for China by the US over Russian oil trade, Peter Navarro had accused India of "cozying up" to President Xi Jinping.
"India doesn't appear to want to recognise its role in the bloodshed (referring to Ukraine)... It's cosying up to Xi Jinping (Chinese President). They (India) don't need the (Russian) oil," he had said.
Several US officials, including Navarro, have justified the move to not penalise China with similar tariffs as India despite Beijing bigger oil trade with Russia.
"Keep in mind that we have over 50 per cent tariffs on China already. We have over 50 per cent tariffs on China, so we don't want to get to a point where we actually hurt ourselves. And I think I've given a really good answer to that," Navarro had said.
'Modi's war in Ukraine'
Peter Navarro's latest attack on India and PM Modi came amid the imposition of the additional 25% tariffs on Indian imports on Wednesday.
He described the Russia-Ukraine conflict as "Modi's war", alleging that the money Moscow gets through the oil trade is used to fund "its war machine" in Ukraine.
“Everybody in America loses because of what India is doing. The consumers and businesses and everything lose, and workers lose because India’s high tariffs cost us jobs, and factories, and income and higher wages. And then the taxpayers lose because we got to fund Modi’s war,” he said during an interview on Bloomberg TV's Balance of Power.
He asserted that if India and China stop their oil trade with Russia it would stop the war in Ukraine.
