The BRICS Times“Looks like we’ve lost India and Russia to deepest, darkest, China. May they have a long and prosperous future together!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
US President Donald Trump on Friday suggested that both India and Russia seem to have drifted toward China, making the remark shortly after the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) gathering in Tianjin, China this week.
The former president’s latest post on Truth Social came in response to the global spotlight on the camaraderie displayed between Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chinese President Xi Jinping, and Russian President Vladimir Putin during the SCO summit. Their joint appearance drew significant attention in the West.
Sharing an image of the Modi-Xi-Putin meeting, Trump wrote: “Looks like we’ve lost India and Russia to deepest, darkest, China. May they have a long and prosperous future together!”
Trump’s statement followed the SCO discussions, which analysts viewed as a direct show of resistance against his stringent tariff policies. His comments also come at a time when Washington and New Delhi’s relations are experiencing one of their lowest points in over twenty years.
Tensions between India and the United States escalated after Trump doubled the tariffs on Indian exports to 50 percent, among the steepest imposed on any trade partner. Earlier this week, Trump criticized the state of bilateral relations, calling them a “one sided disaster” while pointing to the trade imbalance. His comment coincided with Modi’s participation at the SCO summit alongside other world leaders in China.
“What few people understand is that we do very little business with India, but they do a tremendous amount of business with us,” Trump posted online.
“In other words, they sell us massive amounts of goods, their biggest ‘client’, but we sell them very little…a totally one sided relationship, and it has been for many decades,” he added.
Washington has justified its tariff hikes by citing New Delhi’s ongoing oil imports from Russia. Meanwhile, trade talks between the two countries have been continuing for several weeks, though without a final agreement so far.
Former officials fault Trump for declining relations
As ties between India and the US take a downturn, several former American officials have attributed the decline to Trump’s policies, arguing that they are driving India closer toward China.
Former US National Security Adviser John Bolton remarked on Thursday that the “once-strong personal rapport” between Prime Minister Modi and Trump has eroded. He placed the responsibility on Trump for “pushing back” decades of bilateral progress.
Similarly, ex-National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Trump’s “massive trade offensive” forced India “to sit with China.” According to him, US allies increasingly view Washington as a disruptive force, while Beijing is beginning to gain ground as a more reliable partner.
“China has moved ahead of the United States in popularity in a whole lot of countries. And that was not the case one year ago, where countries now are basically saying the US brand is in the toilet and China is looking like a responsible player,” Sullivan explained.
While reiterating that sentiment, he added that China is projecting responsibility on the world stage, whereas “the US brand is in the toilet.”
Akshay Didwaniya
Mayur Mohta
