Peter Navarro, senior counsellor for trade and manufacturing to President Donald Trump, sharply criticized India on Friday, accusing it of strengthening Russia’s war effort in Ukraine by importing large volumes of discounted Russian crude oil. In a post on X, Navarro lashed out at New Delhi’s trade policies and its energy dealings with Moscow, responding to a Washington Post article that suggested the Trump administration’s combative rhetoric toward India was souring relations. He claimed India’s high tariffs cost American jobs and argued that the revenue from Russian oil sales was feeding Moscow’s war machine, while dismissing the media coverage as “fake news.”
Navarro has repeatedly escalated his attacks on India in recent weeks, branding it a “laundromat for the Kremlin” and even suggesting that Indian elites were profiteering from the conflict. His remarks have generated backlash in New Delhi and raised concerns about rising friction in the relationship between the two countries. On Friday, India’s Ministry of External Affairs categorically rejected his comments, calling them “inaccurate and misleading.” MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said that India continues to engage constructively with Washington on trade issues, downplaying claims of a deteriorating partnership.
The White House, however, has also voiced growing frustration with India’s stance. President Trump signaled that relations were faltering, declaring that the US had effectively “lost” India and Russia to what he described as the “darkest” China, following a trilateral appearance by the three nations’ leaders at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Tianjin. He expressed disappointment that India was purchasing so much Russian oil and revealed that Washington had imposed a steep 50 percent tariff on Indian goods in response.
Trump has frequently portrayed India as America’s “most tariffed partner,” arguing that New Delhi’s protectionist policies put American exporters at a disadvantage. His latest comments, combined with Navarro’s ongoing attacks, mark one of the sharpest downturns in Washington’s tone toward India in recent years, raising questions about the durability of the partnership amid deepening global alignments around the war in Ukraine.
