John Bolton, former US NSA, warns Trump's tariffs could push India closer to Russia, China

Former US National Security Advisor John Bolton has said that President Donald Trump’s decision to slap tariffs on India, aimed at hurting Russia, can backfire and instead push India closer to Russia and China.

Bolton in an interview to the CNN also said that Trump’s actions may jeopardise decades of US effort to bring India away from Russia and China and ultimately could end up pushing the three countries towards negotiating together against US tariff efforts.

Pointing out that while Trump has slapped a total of 50 per cent tariffs on Indian goods for its purchase of Russian crude oil, he has not done the same with China, Bolton said that this could irk New Delhi further and push it closer to Moscow and Beijing.

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‘Trump’s different treatment of India and China’

“That shows exactly what could be the worst outcome for the United States that India has reacted very negatively as you might expect to these tariffs related to these Russian oil purchases in part because they see that China has not been tariffed,” said Bolton.

He also warned that Trump's harsh treatment of India could have an adverse impact on the US' effort to gain New Delhi's support in pushing back against China’s effort to establish its hegemony along its long Indo-Pacific parameter.

“Trump seems to be in the mid of many China experts setting up to treat China more leniently that he has treated India. Thus putting in jeopardy decades of effort to bring India away from Russia and China, to join us in our pushback to China’s effort to establish its hegemony along its long Indo-Pacific parameter. The irony here is that the secondary tariffs against India are intended to hurt Russia, it could push India back closer to Russia and ironically closer to China and perhaps negotiating together against the US tariff efforts,” he added.

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‘An enormous mistake’

The former US NSA in an opinion piece in The Hill stated described Trump’s approach of favouring China over India in trade as “an enormous mistake and entirely counterproductive for America,” adding that it goes against US’s long standing geopolitical goals as the Trump administration was “levying tariffs on friend and foe alike".

“Moreover, Trump harshly criticized India’s acquisition of Russian military equipment, underlining a longstanding U.S.-India disagreement, and Indian purchases of Russian oil and gas in violation of America’s Ukraine-related sanctions. (India is also one of the BRICS countries, which Trump separately singled out for a 10 percent tariff,” started Bolton.

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‘Indians surprised’

“Indians were surprised and angered by the relative harshness of India’s treatment, and the threat of additional, unspecified penalties if Washington and New Delhi could not quickly strike a deal,” he said.

Bolton also said that India’s anger could grow exponentially if China snags a better agreement, especially if Trump is seen as sacrificing U.S. strategic interests in his “zeal for a deal” with Xi Jinping.