Washington (AFP) – The United States expects to resolve a bitter tariff row with India within weeks, an envoy of President Donald Trump said Thursday, as he voiced hope for keeping New Delhi in US good graces. India has seen outrage and a spike in anti-US sentiment after Trump imposed tariffs of up to 50 percent on some of its exports over purchases of oil from Russia, under Western sanctions for its invasion of Ukraine.
Sergio Gor, nominated by Trump to be ambassador to India, said he expected progress when India’s trade minister visits Washington next week. “I do think it will get resolved over the next few weeks,” Gor told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in his confirmation hearing. Gor has risen quickly in the Trump White House after spearheading the quick vetting for loyalty of 4,000 appointees to run the US government. Despite his lack of formal foreign policy experience, Gor, a 38-year-old former fund-raiser for Trump, appeared prepared for his questions, deftly not replying to a senator’s question on India’s volatile relationship with Pakistan.
Describing the tariffs as a “little hiccup,” Gor — also named to a broad position of Trump’s special envoy for South Asia — said of concern over India’s Russia ties, “We hold our friends to different standards.” “I will make it a top priority to ensure that they’re pulled in our direction, not away from us,” Gor said of India. Gor noted that Trump, not shy about airing grievances with other leaders, has not personally attacked Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a fellow right-wing populist. “When the president has been critical of India, he has gone out of his way to compliment Prime Minister Modi,” Gor said.
Trump has accused New Delhi of fueling Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine by buying oil from Russia, its Cold War ally. Trump trade advisor Peter Navarro has even called it “Modi’s war.” Trump has not taken similar action against Russia itself and appeared peeved that Modi did not personally credit him for a ceasefire between India and Pakistan following their conflict in May. India — maintaining a decades-old red line against outside intervention over divided Kashmir — has also rebuffed Trump’s overtures to mediate between the two nuclear-armed nations.
Politicians from across the US political spectrum have nearly unanimously supported warm ties with India, making Trump’s tariffs a greater jolt. US policymakers have eyed democratic India as a balance to the world’s other billion-plus nation, China, seen as the top long-term adversary to the United States. Modi recently paid a friendly visit to China, despite the two powers’ long animosity.
Democratic Senator Tim Kaine told Gor that the United States should be “tough when we need to be, but balance that with a real understanding that we want to be close to India and we don’t want to push them in the wrong direction.” Since returning to the presidency in January, Trump has used tariffs as a wide-ranging tool to address what Washington deems unfair trade practices as well as assorted other priorities. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told CNBC on Thursday that “India basically has to open their market, has to stop buying Russian oil,” when asked about trade talks. He added that “we’ve got a big deal coming with Taiwan, we’ll probably get a deal done with Switzerland.” Steeper tariffs took effect on both economies in early August.
© 2024 AFP
