‘Can’t allow Trump’s ego to destroy strategic relationship with India’: U.S. lawmaker Ro Khanna

U.S. President Donald Trump’s actions are destroying the partnership with India, Indian-American Congressman Ro Khanna and two former top officials have said, cautioning that the American leader’s “ego” cannot be allowed to destroy a “strategic relationship” with the world’s largest democracy.

Mr. Khanna, the co-chair of the U.S.-India caucus, said he is sounding the “five-alarm fire” on what Mr. Trump is doing to “destroy” the U.S.-India partnership.

Mr. Khanna accused Mr. Trump of “undermining 30 years of bipartisan work to strengthen the US-India alliance,” citing the imposition of 50% tariffs on Indian goods, including a 25% levy on New Delhi’s purchase of Russian oil.

Mr. Khanna added that Mr. Trump’s policies are “driving India towards China and Russia,” a trend that poses a strategic setback for the US.

Mr. Khanna said the levies imposed on India are higher than any other country, except Brazil, and are even higher tariffs than the duties on China, which is the largest purchaser of Russian energy.

“It is hurting India’s exports of leather and textiles into the United States, and it’s hurting American manufacturers and our exports into India. It is also driving India towards China and towards Russia,” he said.

Peace Prize issue

Pointing to the root cause of the issue, Mr. Khanna said the reasons are “very simple”.

Mr. Khanna explained that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s refusal to nominate Mr. Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize, while Pakistan did, has led to strained relations.

He referenced a statement from Islamabad, which credited Mr. Trump for bringing an end to the four-day conflict between India and Pakistan in May this year. India, however, maintained that the border dispute with Pakistan is an internal matter and refused to give Mr. Trump any credit.

“We can’t allow the ego of Donald Trump to destroy a strategic relationship with India that is key to ensuring that America leads and not China,” Mr. Khanna said.

“To all those Indian-Americans who voted for Donald Trump, I’m asking you, where are you today while he destroys this relationship?” he asked.

Putin, Modi, Xi meeting

Mr. Khanna’s comments come as Prime Minister Modi had attended the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in China’s Tianjin city, where he held bilateral talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The display of camaraderie between the three leaders was a stark reminder of India’s growing ties with both Russia and China.

Mr. Trump’s words and actions targeting India over tariffs and its purchases of Russian oil are being strongly criticised by other officials across the US, as well, including from those who have served in the previous White House administrations.

Former US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on Monday said Mr. Trump has “thrown the relationship with India over the side” because of Pakistan’s willingness to engage in business deals with his family.

He described the move as a “huge strategic harm” to America.

“On a bipartisan basis, going back decades, the United States has worked to build its relationship with India, the world’s largest democracy, a country that we should be aligned with on technology and talent and economics, so many other issues, and aligned with in dealing with the strategic threat from China,” Sullivan said in response to a question on the MeidasTouch network.

He noted that the U.S. had made significant progress in strengthening ties with India.

Personal business with Pakistan

However, that relationship, he claimed, has been undermined by Mr. Trump’s preference for personal business interests with Pakistan.

“In no small part, I think because of Pakistan’s willingness to do business deals with the Trump family, Mr. Trump has thrown the India relationship over the side,” Mr. Sullivan said, describing it as a “huge strategic harm” because a “strong US-India relationship serves our interests”.

Mr. Sullivan, who served as National Security Advisor under President Joe Biden, also voiced alarm that such actions raise concern among other countries around the world over their ties with the U.S. under the Trump administration.

He said the current situation with India not only has direct strategic consequences but also “reverberating impact” on all US relationships and partnerships worldwide.

Decades of efforts ‘shredded’

John Bolton, who served as NSA in the first Trump administration, has said President Trump has “shredded” decades of Western efforts to wean India away from Russia and caution it on the threat posed by China.

“The West has spent decades trying to wean India away from its Cold War attachment to Soviet Union Russia, and cautioning India on the threat posed by China. Donald Trump has shredded decades of efforts with his disastrous tariff policy,” Mr. Bolton said in a post on X Monday.

In an interview with Sky News, Mr. Bolton elaborated that the West, and the US in particular, has spent decades trying to wean India away from Russia, buying sophisticated weapons from them and cautioning New Delhi on the danger posed by China. This was symbolised by the Quad grouping of Japan, India, Australia and the United States.

“A lot of effort (was made) to make India more amenable to cooperation with these countries. Donald Trump, in the past weeks, has essentially upended that and, for a variety of reasons, now sent India back toward Russia, to grow closer to China, and just shredding these decades of efforts,” he said.

The former NSA stressed that while the situation can be repaired, it would require significant work, which he does not see happening in the near term.

Mr. Bolton said there are a series of things that Trump has done that have offended the Indians on the basic tariffs that Trump wants, which he said at a macro level economic phenomena are a “disaster” for everybody.

He said India believed it was close to resolving disputes with Washington, only to be hit with 25% duties. Mr. Trump then carried through on his threat to impose secondary tariffs on countries buying Russian oil and gas.

“Trump whacked India with another 25%, (but) did not tariff Russia, did not tariff China, the largest purchaser of Russian oil and gas.

“And then, to make it worse, when the recent escalation between Pakistan and India over a terrorist attack in Kashmir occurred… Trump took full credit for it as one of the six or seven wars that he stopped this year to deserve the Nobel Peace Prize, which has made India incandescent,” said Bolton, a long-time critic of Mr. Trump.

Since May 10, when Mr. Trump announced on social media that India and Pakistan had agreed to a “full and immediate” ceasefire after a “long night” of talks mediated by Washington, he has repeated his claim over 40 times that he “helped settle” the tensions between India and Pakistan.

India has been consistently maintaining that the understanding on cessation of hostilities with Pakistan was reached following direct talks between the Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of the two militaries.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said in Parliament that no leader of any country asked India to stop Operation Sindoor.

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar has categorically said there was no third-party intervention in bringing about a ceasefire with Pakistan during Operation Sindoor.