Trump and tariffs: At a critical juncture, Democrats fear might cause “losing India.”
Trump and tariffs: A significant Congressional session was dominated by harsh political criticism, with Democrats cautioning that President Donald Trump’s tariff regime and combative stance toward New Delhi might do long-term harm to one of America’s most important friendships.
Democratic Ranking Member Sydney Kamlager-Dove said that Trump was undoing decades of bipartisan achievement at a congressional hearing on the US-India strategic alliance held by the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on South and Central Asia.
Citing “a revitalized Quad, a budding defense tech partnership, and a trusted supply chain partner,” she said that the Biden administration had given Trump “a bilateral relationship at the height of its strength,” only for it to be “flush, flush, flush down the toilet.”
She cautioned that Trump may be severely judged by history. “Trump will be the American president who lost India unless he changes his ways,” she said. “Moving strategic allies into the hands of our enemies does not earn you a Nobel Peace Prize.”
Trump’s 25% “Liberation Day tariffs” and a subsequent 25% tax on India’s imports of Russian oil were in question; together, they constituted a 50% tariff burden. She described the approach as self-defeating, stating that “the tariff rate on India is currently higher than the tariff rate on China.”
Democrats also criticized Trump for undermining interpersonal relationships by imposing a $100,000 cost on H-1B visas, of which “70 percent are held by Indians.” She called this “a rebuke of the incredible contributions Indians have made” in the United States.
According to ORF America’s Dhruva Jaishankar’s testimony, trade talks “began before February 13” and by July, “the two sides had reached quite close” to an agreement. He said that if there is political will in Washington, “a solution… is at hand” and that India is aggressively seeking free trade agreements.
Witnesses warned that tariffs run the danger of overshadowing critical strategic objectives, such as supply chain stabilization and China responding. Smith told the panel, “This has been a low-cost, high-benefit partnership for the United States.” “To abandon the trust we have established would be strategic malpractice of the highest caliber.”
The tariff dispute has emerged as the most contentious topic in the US-India relationship, with far-reaching geopolitical ramifications, as the hearing made evident.