Former National Security Adviser John Bolton on Wednesday said President Trump’s tariffs may push India further away from the U.S. and into deeper alliances with Russia and China.
The president previously threatened to impose a 25 percent tariff on India for purchasing oil from the Kremlin absent of similar punishments for China, who purchases more fuel from Russia.
“I can tell you the reaction in India to that, particularly with no tariffs slapped on China, which bought an awful lot more oil and gas from Russia, is the Indians are incandescent about this and there‘s talk of Putin coming to India later this year,” Bolton said during a Wednesday appearance on CNN’s “AC360.”
“There‘s talk of Prime Minister Modi of India going to China for the first time since 2018. Obviously, both Moscow and Beijing are going to try to bring India closer to them,” he added.
China and the U.S. engaged in a high stakes trade war earlier this year, where tariff rates soared to triple digits, resulting in market scares and consumer anxiety about skyrocketing prices.
Trump and his counterpart Xi Jinping agreed to lower rates to a moderate 10 percent for American exports and 30 percent for products imported from China.
The president has shied away from engaging in another war with leaders in Beijing with tariffs over their dealings with the Kremlin.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was notably close to Trump during his first term. The two held rallies together in both India and Texas to celebrate bilateral relations.
At the time, Trump said India was “America’s greatest, most devoted, and most loyal friends.”
But his tone has become more pointed over the country’s tariff rates.
“What people don’t like to say about India — they’re the highest tariff nation. They have the highest tariff of anybody. We do very, very little business with India because their tariffs are so high,” Trump said last week.
”So we settled on 25 percent, but I think I’m going to raise that very substantially over the next 24 hours, because they’re buying Russian oil. They’re fueling the war machine, and if they’re going to do that, then I’m not going to be very happy,” he added.
Modi reaffirmed his country’s relationship with Russia in a social media post last week.
