Trump’s tariffs on India under fire; American brand ‘in toilet’, says ex-US NSA

Former US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan has criticised the punitive tariffs imposed on India by US President Donald Trump, saying they are damaging US-India ties, undermining America’s global standing, and pushing India closer to China.

“The American brand globally is in the toilet,” said Sullivan in a strong attack on Trump.

Speaking The Bulwark Podcast with Tim Miller, the former NSA said, “The American brand globally is in the toilet. Look at India. Trump has executed a massive trade offensive against them. Now India is thinking, s**t, we have to go sit down with China to hedge against America.”

‘Big disruptor’

Sullivan claimed that many US allies now look at Washington as a “big disruptor” rather than a reliable partner, and that China is capitalising on it and becoming popular globally. He said a prime example of this shift in global politics is India.

The former national security adviser to Biden said the US had worked for several years to strengthen ties with India on a bipartisan basis, in order to counter China’s influence. But Trump’s recent tariffs on India have strained the relationship, “forcing India to sit with China”.

Also Read: Trump has no legal right to impose sweeping tariffs, says US court, but allows him to appeal

He said the US had been trying to build a deeper and more sustainable relationship with India, but because of the tariffs imposed by Trump, India felt compelled to seek closer ties with China.

Sullivan warned that the fallout could damage American interests for years.

Grave mistake: The Economist

The UK-based magazine The Economist in an article titled India’s next move said America is making a grave mistake by alienating India.

“For America to alienate India is a grave mistake. For India it is a moment of opportunity: a defining test of its claim to be a superpower-in-waiting. Narendra Modi must try to limit the damage in his relationship with Donald Trump,” said The Economist.

The magazine argued that Trump had “undone 25 years of diplomacy” by embracing Pakistan after its conflict with India in May, and “now singling out India for even higher tariffs than China”.

Also Read: Indian economy prepares for long haul as Trump tariff strikes home

The article says that India finds itself “humiliated, vindicated, and facing a defining test all at the same time”.

With India responding to the tariff threat by intensifying its engagements with BRICS and SCO, the magazine said Trump couldn’t have thought through how “the world’s fifth-largest economy would react”.

The article ended by saying that Modi is right to meet Xi Jinping in China, and that India should also seek new trade deals elsewhere.