Ties between India and the US have become increasingly strained in recent months — with President Donald Trump imposing a whopping 50% tariff on most imports. New Delhi has also faced flak for its continued purchase of Russian oil amidst the Ukraine war. Prominent economist Raghuram Rajan however opined on Monday that Russian oil may not have been a ‘central’ issue in the ongoing rift.
“I don’t think Russian oil purchases were ever the central issue. I mean you just saw Trump waive the purchase of oil by Hungary. I think the central issue was more personalities. Especially a personality in the White House and how they treated certain comments made by India after Trump claimed credit for stopping a conflict between India and Pakistan. Pakistan played Trump the right way. They said the ceasefire was due to Trump. India said the deal was reached without him. The net effect is that Pakistan has a 19% tariff and India has a 50% tariff,” he noted.
The POTUS has insisted on dozens of occasions that he singlehandedly ended a “nuclear” war between India and Pakistan. Trump claims that received a call about both countries declaring a truce after threatening to withhold trade.
What does Trump say?
Trump told the America Business Forum Miami last month that he had been in the midst of negotiating trade deals with India and Pakistan when the conflict broke out. The US President claimed that he had refused to trade with either country until the crisis was resolved — telling the audience that it would have been “never happened without tariffs”.
“Seven planes were shot down, and the eighth was really badly wounded. Eight planes were shot down essentially. I said: ‘This is war. I’m not going to make any trade deals with you guys unless you agree to peace’. The two nations said: ‘No way. This has nothing to do…’ I said: ‘It has everything to do. You are nuclear powers. I’m not trading with you. We’re not making any deals with you if you’re at war with each other’. A day later, I get a call saying: ‘We made peace’. They stopped,” Trump said amid applause.
India denies claims. Repeatedly
India has consistently denied any third-party intervention and maintains that the ceasefire was wrought through direct communication between military leaders from both countries. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also communicated this stance to Trump during a telephonic conversation.
“President Trump clearly that during this period, there was no talk at any stage on subjects like India-US trade deal or US mediation between India and Pakistan,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Vikram Mistri had said in a press statement.
