Rama Krishna Sangem
US President Donald Trump on September 5 Friday dropped another bomb, further straining American’s relations with India. In one single post on his Truth Social platform, he bracketed India with China and Russia. This means, he sees India as a country that’s moving closer to the rival, if not enemy, camp. Unless his opinion changes, India- US relations won’t improve soon.
He said that the ties between Washington and New Delhi hitting rock-bottom as he said that the US has “lost” India and Russia to the “darkest” China, days after the leaders of the three countries were seen together at the Shangai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Tianjin.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin were among several world leaders who attended the Tianjin SCO Summit hosted by China’s Xi Jinping, where the camaraderie between the three leaders sent out a message, which many dubbed as “a turning point” and heralding “a new world order” amid the tariff war waged by the US President.
“Looks like we’ve lost India and Russia to deepest, darkest, China. May they have a long and prosperous future together! President Donald J. Trump,” Trump captioned his Truth Social post, sharing a picture of PM Modi where he is seen with Putin and Jinping at the Tianjin meet.
India declines comments
In New Delhi, India’s Ministry of External Affairs, during a press conference on Friday, chose not to make a comment on Trump’s post. “We don’t have anything to comment on Trump’s post as of now”.
The India-US bilateral ties have seen their lowest point in years following the 50 per cent tariffs imposed by Trump on New Delhi last month. The US levied 25 per cent base tariffs and another 25 per cent levy over India’s continued purchase of Russian oil.
We still need to see, if Trump would like to meet PM Modi during latter’s visit to New York in the last week of September to attend to the UN general assembly session. Normally, Indian PMs call on the US presidents whenever they go to New York for UNGA. This time too, Modi’s team is planning a meeting with Trump, but an appointment is not yet worked out.
