Trump’s aide earlier defended United States administration’s tariff decision saying that India is the ‘maharaja of tariffs’. “
Navarro, while talking to reporters at the White House, said it is important to understand that the “rationale for the India tariffs is very different from the reciprocal tariffs”.
“This was a pure ‘national security issue’ associated with India’s abject refusal to stop buying Russian oil,” he said, and added that “every American needs to understand the math of this because it is related to the trade situation”.
“You start with the fact that India is the ‘maharaja’ of tariffs, it’s the highest tariffs in the world charging on American products and it’s got a high non-tariff barrier so we can’t get our products in,” he had said earlier.
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The US sends a lot of dollars overseas to India to buy their products in an “unfair trade environment”, he claimed.
“India then uses American dollars to buy Russian oil. Russia then uses those American dollars that come from India to finance its armaments, to kill Ukrainians, and American taxpayers are then called upon to pay for the weapons that have to defend Ukraine against Russian armaments paid for by American dollars that came from India,” Navarro said.
He said that it has “got to stop”. “That math does not work. The president understands the connection between economic security and national security so that was the bottom line there,” he added.
Last week, US President Donald Trump announced 25% reciprocal tariffs on India that came into effect from August 7.
On Wednesday, Trump signed an executive order slapping an additional 25% duty on imports from India, effective August 27, after the earlier announced 25% tariff, citing New Delhi’s purchases of Russian oil. This brings total duties to 50%, among the highest imposed by the US on any country in the world.
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On question about why China has not been targeted the way Delhi has been with the doubling of its tariffs even when it buys more Russian oil than India, Navarro said, “As the boss says, let’s see what happens. Keep in mind that we have over 50% tariffs on China already…so we don’t want to get to a point where we actually hurt ourselves.”
“The president certainly will be working with China on that issue,” he added.
On India’s response about alternatives to Russian oil, White House Homeland Security Adviser Stephen Miller said, “It probably surprised people to know that India is one of the largest purchasers in the world of Russian oil and they could easily access oil from many other markets around the world.”
“They are one of the largest funders of Russia’s army for that reason,” he claimed.
PM Modi on Thursday said that India is ready to pay a ‘heavy price’ for the welfare of its farmers.
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PM Modi said, “For us, the interest of our farmers is our top priority. India will never compromise on the interests of farmers, fishermen and dairy farmers.”
Responding to the tariffs, the Ministry of External Affairs has said that the targeting of India is “unjustified and unreasonable”.
“Like any major economy, India will take all necessary measures to safeguard its national interests and economic security,” it said.
