Washington, D.C., August 7 (ANI): White House Trade Adviser Peter Navarro stated that while the United States has imposed 50 percent tariffs on both Chinese and Indian goods, the motivations behind each are distinctly different, according to C-SPAN.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Navarro emphasized that the U.S. aims to enforce tariffs on China without causing damage to its own economy. “As the boss says, let’s see what happens. Keep in mind that we have over 50 percent tariffs on China already. We have over 50 percent tariffs on China, so we don’t want to get to a point where we actually hurt ourselves. And I think I’ve given a really good answer to that,” he said, as per C-SPAN.
He clarified that the tariffs on India were imposed primarily due to national security concerns related to India’s continued purchase of Russian oil, which the U.S. argues contributes to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
“Let’s talk first about the India tariffs, which went up to 50 percent today. It’s important to understand that the rationale for the Indian tariffs is very different from the reciprocal tariffs. This was a pure national security issue associated with India’s abject refusal to stop buying Russian oil,” Navarro explained.
He also criticized India’s trade policies, labeling the country the “maharaja of tariffs” for maintaining some of the highest tariff and non-tariff barriers on American products.
“You start with the fact that India is the maharaja of tariffs. It’s the highest tariffs in the world, charging on American products, and it’s got high non-tariff barriers, so we can’t get our products in. So we send a lot of dollars overseas to India to buy their products in an unfair trade environment,” he said.
Navarro claimed that U.S. spending on Indian goods indirectly supports Russian military operations through oil purchases. “India then uses American dollars to buy Russian oil. Russia then uses those American dollars that come from India to finance its armaments to kill Ukrainians. And then American taxpayers are then called upon to pay for the weapons that have to defend Ukraine against Russian armaments paid for by American dollars that came from India,” he added.
He emphasized that President Donald Trump sees a strong link between economic policy and national security. “That’s got to stop. That math doesn’t work. The president understands the connection between economic security and national security. So that was the bottom line there,” Navarro said.
Meanwhile, former U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton warned that Trump’s tariff strategy might backfire by driving India closer to China and Russia.
Speaking to CNN, Bolton said, “That shows exactly what I think could be the worst outcome for the United States, that India has reacted very negatively, as you might expect, to these tariffs related to Russian oil purchases, in part because they see that China has not been tariffed. And Trump seems to be, in the minds of many China experts, setting up to treat China more leniently than he’s treated India, thus putting in jeopardy decades of American effort to bring India away from Russia, to bring India away from China, to join us in trying to push back on Chinese efforts to gain hegemony along its long Indo-Pacific perimeter.”
He added, “And the irony here is that while the secondary tariffs against India are intended to hurt Russia, it could push India back closer to Russia and closer to China, perhaps negotiating together against the U.S. tariff efforts.”
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