Congress MP Jairam Ramesh on Thursday took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi after US President Donald Trump announced a 25 per cent tariff on American imports from India. Ramesh said, “He invested very heavily in his personal friendship with President Trump.”
He also recalled Trump’s controversial claims about preventing a war between India and Pakistan — assertions India has strongly denied.
In a post on X, the Congress leader wrote:
“President Trump is piling it on India. Since May 10th, he has claimed 30 times that he stopped Operation Sindoor. These claims were made across four countries. On June 18th, he hosted the Pakistan Army Chief and the orchestrator of the Pahalgam terror attacks for lunch at the White House. On July 30th, he imposed a 25% tariff on US imports from India, in addition to penalties on India’s oil and defence purchases from Russia.”
He further added:
“Sanctions have also been slapped on at least six Indian companies for dealing with Iran. On the same day, July 30th, he announced US support for Pakistan to explore and develop its oil and gas reserves. This comes alongside his open support for Pakistan securing financial aid from the World Bank and IMF.”
Ramesh said the Modi government now faces the geopolitical challenge of “CAP — China, America, Pakistan”, drawing a contrast to the PM’s earlier mention of the “TOP” (Tomato, Onion, Potato) price challenge.
“Modi invested very heavily in his personal friendship with Trump — just as he earlier did with President Xi. Both now have a full measure of the man — someone who can be managed easily by playing to his gigantic ego and self-obsession,” Ramesh remarked.
Earlier, on Wednesday, President Trump declared that India would face a 25 per cent tariff along with additional penalties, citing trade imbalances and New Delhi’s continued military and energy ties with Moscow.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said:
“While India is our friend, we’ve done relatively little business with them over the years because their tariffs are among the highest in the world and their non-monetary trade barriers are the most strenuous and obnoxious of any country.”
“They have consistently bought a vast majority of their military equipment from Russia and are among the largest buyers of Russian energy, alongside China — at a time when the world wants Russia to STOP THE KILLING IN UKRAINE. Therefore, India will be paying a 25% tariff, plus a penalty, starting August 1st. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER. MAGA!” (Agencies)
