NEW DELHI - White House trade adviser Peter Navarro has stirred controversy by calling the Ukraine conflict "Modi's war" and directly linking India's purchase of Russian oil to Moscow's battlefield gains and the growing burden on American taxpayers.
Speaking to Bloomberg TV news channel, Navarro mixed praise for Prime Minister Narendra Modi with his strongest criticism yet of New Delhi's policies.
"Modi is a great leader. This is a mature democracy run by sensible people and yet, they look down on us and deny that they have the highest taxes in the world, when in fact they do."
According to Navarro, American citizens are paying for India's elections. “When India buys Russian oil at a discount, refines it and resells it at a premium, Russia uses the revenue to fund its war machine and kill more Ukrainians,” he argued. “Then Ukraine demands more money from us and Europe. So everyone in America loses, because we are funding Modi’s war.”
As a counteroffer, Navarro suggested that if New Delhi stopped importing Russian crude, the US could cut tariffs on Indian goods by 25 percent. But he insisted that India’s current path emboldens Moscow. “I mean Modi’s war, because the path to peace runs partly through New Delhi,” he said.
The comments come at a time when US-India relations are at their lowest point in years. Indian officials have maintained that energy imports from Russia are affordable and essential to national interests. New Delhi has also argued that the US and Europe continue to buy Russian-related goods, weakening the moral case against its purchases.