India Criticizes Trump Tariffs Ahead of US Midterms
New Delhi has broken with diplomatic silence to openly fault Washington over trade, visas, and regional alliances.
By Yasmin Nasser ·
Indian officials have abandoned their traditional quiet diplomacy to openly criticize the Trump administration.
This shift marks a sharp departure from the public praise Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered at a 2019 rally in Houston, where he called Trump warm, friendly, and energetic. Modi even chanted a Hindi slogan urging a Trump government. That warm posture has given way to visible frustration as Trump faces midterm elections in November.
The tension is driven by economic pressure and diplomatic friction. India faces some of the highest tariff rates under the current US trade regime. In February, the US Supreme Court struck down sweeping tariffs, but the administration replaced them with a 10 percent global levy. Trump also signed a law allowing up to 100 percent tariffs on nations buying Russian oil. He paused that specific measure to keep US energy prices stable before the vote, but the threat remains.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman described trade talks as reaching a plateau where progress is difficult. The dispute extends beyond money. The US has pushed India to reduce purchases of Russian oil, and Washington has grown closer to Pakistan, a rival New Delhi views with suspicion. Trump claimed he mediated an India-Pakistan ceasefire in 2025, a claim New Delhi rejected.
Immigration policy has also strained relations. The administration raised fees for H-1B visas and deported undocumented Indian immigrants, some in shackles, causing public outrage in India. Milan Vaishnav, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said these actions have struck a nerve with the Indian strategic community. He noted that while policy differences are tolerable, personal attacks on Indian Americans are not.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited Mumbai this week but skipped New Delhi. In an interview, he said the tariffs were not meant to punish India. He acknowledged that the administration is balancing its pressure on Russia with the need to maintain a strong relationship with New Delhi. He did not rule out returning to similar measures later.
Analysts are divided on the impact of the midterms. Vaishnav believes a weakened Trump or a Democrat-controlled Congress could moderate US policy. Other analysts, such as Praveen Donthi of the International Crisis Group, argue that a bipartisan consensus to pressure India has already formed. They say a shift in congressional control may not change the fundamental US approach to New Delhi.
Foreign Minister S Jaishankar, who once said India was not nervous about the US, now leads a more critical front. The administration is waiting to see if the November vote changes Washington's posture or if the pressure on India continues.
