A former White House official has slammed US President Donald Trump’s steep tariffs on India, warning they are damaging America’s reputation and pushing New Delhi closer to Beijing.
“Take a look at India, as another example. Here’s a country that on a bipartisan basis, we were working and trying to build a deeper and more sustainable relationship with, and the China challenge loomed large in that. Now you have got President Trump executing a massive trade offensive against them and the Indians are saying, well, I guess maybe we have to go show up in Beijing and sit with the Chinese because we got a hedge against America,” Jake Sullivan, National Security Adviser to former President Joe Biden said, adding that the tariffs make China look “more responsible” than the US.
“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, you know, saying the US brand is in the toilet and China is looking like actually more responsible player,” Sullivan told Tim Miller on The Bulwark podcast.
Trump recently raised tariffs on Indian goods to 50 per cent, citing unfair trade practices and India’s continued imports of Russian crude oil, effective August 27. The move marks the highest tariff imposed on any country, sparking fears of a slowdown in growth and job losses. This includes a 25 per cent tariff specifically over New Delhi’s purchase of Russian crude oil.
The sharp rise in tariffs has triggered concerns over India’s exports to the US, with sectors such as textiles, jewellery, and mechanical appliances expected to be among the hardest hit.
Sullivan warned that such policies could backfire, saying allies now see Washington as a “big disruptor” that cannot be relied upon, with India increasingly warming up to China.
“When I go to these places now and I talk to leaders, they are talking about derisking from the United States. They now see the US as the big disruptor, the country that can’t be counted on,” Sullivan said.
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This comes amid Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to China for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit, which marks a significant development in India-China relations since the 2020 Galwan clashes. Modi is also set to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping.
