Perfidious America
It takes a lot of gall to lecture a friendly government about how it acts when the U.S. just launched an insane and unjustified economic war against them.
Trump administration official Peter Navarro rails against India in an op-ed in The Financial Times:
The Biden administration largely looked the other way at this strategic and geopolitical madness. The Trump administration is confronting it. A recent executive order issued by the president will impose a 25 per cent national security tariff on Indian goods to address the threat posed by India’s continued importation of Russian oil. This new tariff is in addition to the 25 per cent reciprocal tariff already in place.
This two-pronged policy will hit India where it hurts — its access to US markets — even as it seeks to cut off the financial lifeline it has extended to Russia’s war effort. If India wants to be treated as a strategic partner of the US, it needs to start acting like one.
It takes a lot of gall to lecture a friendly government about how it acts when the U.S. just launched an insane and unjustified economic war against them. The U.S. is not acting like a strategic partner with India when it seeks to bludgeon them into submission with punishing tariffs. The president sees India as more of a vassal than a partner, and he expects them to bow down to him. In this arrangement, the U.S. can abuse India however it likes, and India is supposed to conform itself to Washington’s wishes. That is a good way to antagonize India for years to come.
One of the constants in Trump’s foreign policy is that he and his allies deeply resent other countries when the others pursue their national interests. They think that the U.S. should get to decide how other states conduct their affairs, and if the other governments disagree with American diktats they should be punished severely until they yield. As far as the administration is concerned, the U.S. is the only nation with legitimate interests and every other country has to behave like a satellite or face the consequences.