Trump Spoilt Ties With India 'Out Of Ego, Money From Pakistan': Ex-Envoy

US President Donald Trump has literally "thrown away 40 years" of efforts to enhance the country's relationship with India "out of ego and some money from Pakistan", former US envoy to Japan Rahm Emanuel has said. 

India could have acted as a major counterweight for the US against China but President Trump "threw it all away", Emanuel added, terming the developments a "major strategic blunder". 

The former envoy, who also served as former US President Barack Obama's Chief of Staff, was speaking to Meidastouch network when he made the remarks. 

"...mismanagement of India, which is a major, major counterweight against China, not only on the manufacturing and technology side but also on the military side... The President of the United States has literally thrown away 40 years of meticulous strategic planning and preparation in enhancing and warming relationships through democratic administrations," Emanuel said. 

"He (Trump) threw it all away because (Indian Prime Minister Narendra) Modi will not say that the President deserves a Nobel Peace Prize for the ceasefire that he worked out with the Pakistanis," he added, referring to Trump's repeated claims of brokering a peace between India and Pakistan after Operation Sindoor. 

Trump mismanaged US' relations with India "out of his ego and for the money from Pakistan, which was paying both his son and the son of his aide, Steve Witkoff". "This is a major strategic blunder that China has used to their advantage. That is on the strategic level," he said.

He was referring to a deal between a privately-owned US cryptocurrency firm and Pakistan's Crypto Council. The fintech enterprise is owned by Steve Witkoff's son Zachary Witkoff. It has a majority stake-holding by President Trump's sons Eric and Donald Junior, as well as his son-in-law Jared Kushner, who own 60 per cent of the company collectively. In April, the firm signed a Letter of Intent with the Pakistan Crypto Council.

Relations between New Delhi and Washington have been reeling under severe stress after Trump doubled tariffs on Indian goods to a whopping 50 per cent, including a 25 per cent additional duty for India's purchase of Russian crude oil. India described the US action as "unfair, unjustified and unreasonable". 

India is the second-largest buyer of Russian fossil fuels behind China, according to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA). Washington has been maintaining that India is helping Russian President Vladimir Putin to finance the war through its purchase of Russian crude oil.

New Delhi has consistently stated that its oil imports are guided by national energy security and affordability concerns, and that its stance on the Russia-Ukraine conflict remains "independent and balanced".