As part of raising opinions against India for its purchase of Russian oil, the White House trade advisor, Peter Navarro, said that ‘Brahmins’ are profiteering at the expense of the Indian people and need to ‘stop’.
“Look, Modi is a great leader… So I would just simply say, the Indian people, please understand what’s going on here. You got ‘Brahmins’ profit at the expense of Indian people we need to stop,” said Navarro, Trump administration senior counsellor for trade and manufacturing. While giving an interview to an international media organisation, the trade advisor said that he doesn’t understand how the Indian leader is cooperating with Russian president, Vladimir Putin and Chinese president Xi Jinping, despite being the biggest democracy of the world. Navarro was asked about China’s purchase of Russian oil and whether the implementation of extra tariffs by the US on the Indian trade is enough to ‘choke’ Putin.
This is not the first time, and Navarro has been constantly targeting India over the last few days. Following a major turn down in the ties between Washington and New Delhi over President Donald Trump’s policies on trade and tariff imposed 25% reciprocal tariff on India and an additional 25% for Delhi’s purchases of Russian oil.
The Indian government has termed this tariff imposed on India as “unjustified, and unreasonable”.
“Well, let’s be clear. We have 50% tariff now in India, but we also have a little over 50% tariff on China so there’s a question. How much higher do you want to go without actually hurting yourself?” Navarro further added. According to him, before Putin invaded Ukraine in February 2022, India didn’t buy Russian oil, and even if it did, the purchase was a very very small amount.
“What happened? Well, the Russian refineries went in and got into bed with big oil in India. Putin gives Modi a discount on the crude. They refine it and they ship it to Europe, Africa, Asia at a big premium and make a ton of money… Now, what’s wrong with that picture?,” stated Navarro, adding that this fuels the Russian war machine and India is “nothing but a laundromat for the Kremlin”.
India-Russia Trade of Oil
The state of India has defended its purchase of Russian crude oil and has maintained its energy procurement is driven by national interest and market dynamics. Russia has been India’s top energy supplier since the West slapped sanctions on crude oil after the invasion of Ukraine and so getting Russian oil is beneficial for both the security and the economy of the nation.
“Ukrainians and what we have to do as taxpayers, we send them more money, so Ukraine can defend themselves. On top of that, by the way, the 25% of the 50% is because India is the ‘Maharaja’ of tariffs,” Navarro alleged.
“They have the highest tariff in the world, so they export us a bunch of stuff and they won’t let us sell to them so who gets hurt? Workers in America, taxpayers in America, Ukrainian cities getting killed by Russian drones,” stated Navarro, who was previously recorded describing the Ukrainian conflict as “Modi war” and said that the road to peace runs partially “right through New Delhi”.
The catch here is that the US state is constantly refraining from criticising China, which is the largest importer of Russian crude oil.