"Too Much Ordering, Pressuring": Ex-US Diplomat Snubs Trump Over India Ties

The concern over US President Donald Trump alienating allies like India has been echoed by former Secretary of State John Kerry. Giving ultimatums without making any genuine diplomatic efforts does not exhibit greatness, he told ET World Leaders Forum yesterday, describing the strain in India-US ties as "unfortunate".

"We are concerned. This struggle between President Trump and PM Modi is unfortunate. Great nations don't necessarily exhibit greatness by giving people ultimatums all the time without sort of a genuine diplomatic effort to try to find common ground and do things through the normal course of business," he said.

The senior US official who served under President Barack Obama said that during the Obama regime, negotiations were done through cooperation and respect. But now, there has been "a little bit too much ordering, pressuring, and pushing around", he said.

India and US ties had strained in recent weeks, after the Trump administration imposed secondary tariffs on India for buying Russian oil, and reportedly also over New Delhi denying his peacemaking role during their recent conflict with Pakistan. The US tariffs on Indian exports now stand above 50%.

Kerry hoped that New Delhi and Washington would resolve their trade dispute. He also referred to PM Modi and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal as friends and said that he admired India's negotiations.

"My hope is that we will resolve this dispute. I think India has made a pretty powerful offering frankly," he said, noting reports that India had offered zero tariff on a number of US imports as a "big shift".

Kerry is among the numerous former US officials and experts who have raised concerns over Trump's policies that alienate India.

Trump's former aide John Bolton had slammed the President earlier this month for jeopardising decades of American efforts to bring India away from Russia and China, and warned that his pro-China bias could be an "enormous mistake".

In an interview with CNN, he had called it ironic that the secondary tariff, which was intended to hurt Russia, could push India closer to Russia and China, and perhaps even make them negotiate together against the US.

US foreign policy expert Christopher Padilla, a former US trade official, had also warned that the tariffs could pose a risk of long-term damage to India-US ties. It could raise questions later whether the US is a reliable partner, as the tariffs would remain in memory, he feared.

Jeffrey Sachs, a top US economist, had ripped into President Trump's punitive tariffs as "the stupidest tactical move in US foreign policy." "These tariffs on India are not a strategy; they're sabotage...The imposition of the 25 per cent penalty tariff on India, what it did overnight was unify the BRICS countries as never before," he said.