US President Donald Trump’s pro-tariff aide Peter Navarro is back in the news with another bizarre remark against India – this time reacting strongly to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s display of bonhomie with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russia premier Vladimir Putin on Monday at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in China’s Tianjin.
As visuals of the camaraderie between the three leaders – Modi, Xi and Putin – went viral on social media on Monday, Peter Navarro said it was “a shame to see Modi getting in bed with the two biggest authoritarians in the world”.
The remarks by Peter Navarro, White House trade advisor, came even as the US on Monday gave a shoutout to its ties with India while PM Modi was bonding with Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin in China.
“It was a shame to see Modi getting in bed – as a leader of the biggest democracy in the world – with the two biggest authoritarians in the world in Putin and Xi Jinping. That doesn’t make any sense. I’m not sure what he’s thinking particularly since India has been in a cold war – and sometimes a hot war – with China for decades,” Peter Navarro told reporters on Monday, responding to queries of the show of unity at the SCO Summit.
“We hope the Indian leader comes around to seeing that he needs to be with us and Europe and Ukraine and not Russia,” Navarro added.
Lately, tariff supporter Navarro has been hitting headlines for his random remarks on India, calling the country “maharaja of tariffs”, “laundromat of Russia” and the Ukraine conflict as “Modi’s war”. In fresh remarks on Sunday, Navarro said “Brahmins are profiteering at the expense of the Indian people.”
The US embassy in India on Monday, in a surprise post on social media, said its partnership with New Delhi “continues to reach new heights”.
In a post on X on Monday, the US Embassy, citing Secretary of State Marco Rubio, called the ties between India and the United States a “defining relationship”.
The post read, “The partnership between the United States and India continues to reach new heights — a defining relationship of the 21st century. This month, we’re spotlighting the people, progress, and possibilities driving us forward.”
“From innovation and entrepreneurship to defense and bilateral ties, it’s the enduring friendship between our two peoples that fuels this journey,” the US Embassy in India wrote, asking users to follow the hashtag #USIndiaFWDforOurPeople and be a part of the campaign.
Powerful visuals of PM Modi, Xi Jinping and Putin displaying bonhomie flooded social media and news portals on Monday, showing the three shaking hands, hugging and having candid interactions at the SCO Summit.
Meanwhile, US treasury Secretary Scott Bessent dismissed the SCO gathering as “performative”.
“This is a longstanding meeting, it’s called the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and I think it’s largely performative. I think at the end of the day, India is the most populous democracy in the world. Their values are much closer to ours and to China’s than to Russia’s,” Bessent told Fox News.
