Topline
President Donald Trump slammed U.S.-India trade as a “totally one sided disaster” on Monday morning, hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping in what looked to be a unified front at a summit in eastern China.
Trump slammed the United States’ trade relationship with India as a “totally one sided disaster” in a post on Truth Social. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
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Key Facts
Trump, in a Truth Social post, said the United States sells little to India but India sells the United States “massive amounts of goods, their biggest ‘client,’” slamming what he portrays as a lopsided trade relationship “for many decades.”
Trump alleged the “reason is that India has charged us, until now, such high Tariffs, the most of any country, that our businesses are unable to sell into India,” claiming the country has since offered to cut tariffs on U.S. goods to “nothing.”
Reuters reported the U.S. had a $45.8 billion trade deficit with India in 2024, and that India’s average tariff rate on U.S. goods is 7.5%, citing India’s trade ministry, though the U.S. Trade Representative’s office told Reuters India’s tariff rate on U.S. auto imports is 100% and farm goods is 39%.
Trump also criticized India for buying Russian oil and military goods, weeks after he signed an executive order hiking tariffs on India for importing Russian oil, which he said “undermines U.S. efforts to counter Russia’s harmful activities” in Ukraine.
The United States’ 50% tariff rate on goods from India took effect on Wednesday, which India has slammed as “unfair, unjustified and unreasonable.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Monday in Tianjin, China. (Photo by Sergey Bobylev/Kremlin Press S./Anadolu via Getty Images)
Anadolu via Getty Images
What Happened At The China-Russia-India Summit?
Xi, Putin and Modi met in Tianjin, China, on Monday as China hosted the leaders of more than two dozen countries, putting on what looked like a unified front in a move some analysts called was a pointed message to the United States, particularly by India, which has been frustrated by tariff negotiations with the U.S. The leaders were seen shaking hands, embracing and laughing with one another, and Putin, who took a backseat limo ride with Modi, referred to the Indian leader as his “dear friend.” Modi posted a picture of his limo ride with Putin on his social media accounts, stating “conversations with him are always insightful.” Xi, in a speech at the summit, urged leaders to oppose “Cold War mentality, bloc confrontation and bullying” in likely shots at the United States, the New York Times reported. Putin, in a speech, said “understandings” reached with the United States at their Alaska summit in August could pave a way for peace between Russia and Ukraine, but blamed the West for the war over its “constant attempts to drag Ukraine into NATO.” The summit was Modi’s first trip to China in seven years, and the leaders of Asia’s largest countries agreed they are development partners, not rivals, and to not let their disputed border in the Himalayas “define the overall China-India relationship.”
How Have Analysts Interpreted The China-Russia-India Summit?
Keir Giles, a senior fellow at London think tank Chatham House, told NBC News the summit showed the “close relationship that Trump sought with Putin is now on display between Putin and others,” noting the United States gave India “a real cause to look for friendship and partnership elsewhere.” Manoj Kewalramani, who heads Indo-Pacific studies at Bangalore, India’s Takshashila Institution, told the New York Times optics are a key part of the summit and that U.S. policies “will result in other countries looking for alternatives to meet their interests.”
Further Reading
Smiles and Clasped Hands as Xi, Putin and Modi Try to Signal Unity (New York Times)
Trump Doubles India Tariffs To 50% In Retaliation For Russian Oil Purchases (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/conormurray/2025/09/01/trump-blasts-india-shortly-after-modi-photo-op-with-putin-xi/
