&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "'Extremely offensive, not at all appreciated': Shashi Tharoor says Trump’s tariffs and Navarro’s insults have damaged goodwill in New Delhi")
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Tuesday (September 23) criticised Donald Trump’s trade adviser Peter Navarro, after his recent comments targeting India, calling them unnecessary at a time when relations between the two countries were improving. Navarro, a senior White House counsellor, had described India as the “maharaja of tariffs” and a “laundromat of Russia”. He also referred to the Ukraine war as “Modi’s war” and claimed “Brahmins are profiteering at the expense of the Indian people”.
Speaking to ANI, Tharoor said the language was “extremely offensive” and had created a backlash across India. “If there’s no particular problem in a relationship of 30 years, which has been getting toward greater closeness, why would you use this kind of language about India? This was not at all appreciated,” he said.
Why have tariffs become a flashpoint?
Tharoor argued that Donald Trump sees tariffs as a tool not only for trade but also for politics. “What went wrong to begin with is that Trump has this idea that tariffs are the magic instruments to solve a number of his problems,” he explained.
“He feels that too many things that were manufactured in America are now being imported. He wants to make that more expensive so that the American manufacturer will start doing things more in America and employ American workers, who are his base,” Trump said. US president imposed a 25 per cent tariff on Indian imports in August and later added another 25 per cent penalty over India’s purchases of Russian oil.
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‘Insults made it worse’
Tharoor said tariffs themselves had already caused resentment in India but Navarro’s remarks deepened the divide. “The unfairness of imposition of tariffs has definitely created a very strong backlash in India, and the accompanying insults, both by Trump’s own language and Navarro’s statements, have gotten a backlash across the country,” he said.
India–US ties under strain
India and the US have grown closer over the last three decades, particularly in defence, technology and trade. Tharoor said that this made the sharp language from Trump’s team especially jarring. “This was not at all appreciated,” he repeated, adding that both the tariffs and the rhetoric had damaged goodwill in New Delhi.
