'One-sided disaster to 'Modi will always be friend': How Trump flip-flopped on India ties in 7 days

The India-US relations are going through a tough phase amid the tariff war started by US President Donald Trump. Trump has imposed a whopping 50 per cent tariff on India as New Delhi failed to strike a trade deal with Washington before the deadline. Trump had initially imposed a 25 per cent tariff, which he increased to 50, as a punishment for India's oil purchase from Russia. He even said that he imposed the tariff to put pressure on Russia to end the Ukraine war.

Amid his aides constantly bashing India for its closeness with China and Russia - some calling India 'a laundromat for Kremlin' and others calling the Russia-Ukraine war 'Modi's war' - Trump has somewhat been confused, particularly this week. Start of the week, on Monday, he claimed, in what sounded an angry irritant Trump, that New Delhi has proposed a zero tariff but 'time is running out.' But, by Saturday, he said, he'll always be friends with Modi.

Trump on Monday (Sep 1), in a long post on Truth Social, claimed India-US trade ties have been a ‘one-sided disaster.’ Reiterating America's disappointment over India's oil purchase from Russia, Trump claimed that New Delhi has offered a zero tariff, adding a cautionary note of ‘it’s getting late.’ “Until now, a totally one-sided relationship, and it has been for many decades… It has been a totally one-sided disaster...They have now offered to cut their Tariffs to nothing, but it’s getting late.”

Trump on Monday (Sep 2) spoke to reporters in the White House and answered a question on whether he is considering taking away some of the tariffs imposed on India. He said he is not planning to cut down the tariffs, adding that America gets along with India very well, but the relationship was "one-sided" for many years. "India was charging us tremendous tariffs, about the highest in the world," Trump said.

During his bilateral meeting with Poland’s President Karol Nawrocki, Trump responded to a question by a Polish reporter. A visibly irritated Trump slammed the reporter when he asked why no action was taken against Moscow. The US president pointed to the secondary sanctions that he put on India for buying Russian oil as a key example of action against Russia and warned ‘third and fourth phase of tariffs.’

Though Trump did not particularly mention India, he said that China's military parade was 'very impressive', adding that all the leaders present in the parade hoped that he would be watching. Prime Minister Modi attended the military parade in Beijing and met Chinese President Xi Jinping as well as Russian President Vladimir Putin. Meanwhile, on Thursday, Trump's aide Peter Navarro slammed India by calling it 'laundromat of the Kremlin.'

Posting a picture of Chinese President Xi Jinping as well as Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi together, Trump regretted seeing the closeness of India and Russia to China. "Looks like we’ve lost India and Russia to deepest, darkest China. May they have a long and prosperous future together," he wrote.

Late on Friday, speaking to reporters, Trump made a U-turn and said that he will always be 'friends' with Indian PM Narendra Modi and the India-US relationship will be 'special'. PM Modi reciprocated the response, saying, "I will always be friends with Modi. He's a great prime minister. He's great. I'll always be friends, but I just don't like what he's doing at this particular moment. But India and the United States have a special relationship. There's nothing to worry about. We just have moments on occasion."