- Tony Abbott criticised Trump's handling of India relations as a major foreign policy mistake
- Trump alienated India with tariffs, the former Australian PM said
- Trump's February deal eased US-India trade tensions by cutting tariffs after PM Modi's Russian oil halt
Former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott told NDTV that one of the biggest mistakes made by US President Donald Trump so far has been the way he has handled relations with India.
Abbott said he was not a universal admirer of Trump's foreign policy, and listed three specific actions that, in his view, had "gratuitously alienated" New Delhi.
"I am not a universal admirer of the Trumpian foreign policy. And one of the biggest mistakes that President Trump has made up till now has been gratuitously alienating India, first with the punitive tariffs, then with the claims that he had somehow settled the squabble between India and Pakistan, and then, I suppose, with the hosting of the Pakistani armed forces chief (Asim Munir) in the White House, given that Pakistan undoubtedly has sponsored terrorism against India and has been doing so intermittently for a long time," Abbot told NDTV.
A trade agreement was announced by Trump in February that appeared to mark a partial reversal of earlier tensions with India. Under that agreement, Trump reduced tariffs on many Indian goods. He had previously imposed 25 per cent reciprocal tariffs on a range of products, plus an additional 25 per cent levy linked to India's purchases of Russian oil.
The US President said the cuts followed a commitment from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to stop buying oil from Moscow while the war in Ukraine continued. The deal eased months of friction over those purchases, which Washington argued were helping to fund a conflict the United States was trying to end.
It also restored what Trump has repeatedly described as close personal ties with the man he calls one of his greatest friends.
Abbot was asked about the uncertainty created by the current conflict in the Middle East, the absence of any sign that the war was ending, and the continued intensity of military operations across multiple countries. On a potential regime change in Tehran, Abbott said it was impossible to be certain.
"We can't say for sure whether there will be a regime change. And we shouldn't underestimate the hold that the regime has over significant sections of the Iranian population. Nevertheless, I suppose, the worst outcome that we could have from this is a defanged Islamist theocracy, because plainly, whatever government survives or emerges in Tehran will lack the means of aggression that it previously had,' Abbot told NDTV.
Iran's nuclear programme, Abbott said, had been set back by decades. Asked whether the fighting had become a battle of attrition, with both sides limited by missile stocks and interception capabilities, Abbott said that the intensity would inevitably diminish.
"Already, the intensity of Iranian attacks has dropped off markedly, just as the intensity of Israeli and American attacks has gone up. And to the credit of the Americans and the Israelis, the attacks have been exclusively on regime facilities. The Americans and the Israelis have been careful to leave Iran's economic and social infrastructure in place," Abbot told NDTV.
In the hours that followed, Iran fired fresh missiles and drones at Israel and at several Gulf states hosting US military bases. Explosions were heard inside Israel as its defences intercepted incoming projectiles.
The United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia all reported attacks.
