U.S. President Donald Trump has ignited a major diplomatic storm, declaring that India and Russia appear to have moved closer to China after the recent Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Tianjin. Taking to his platform TruthSocial, Mr. Trump shared an old photograph of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Chinese President Xi Jinping, writing: “Looks like we’ve lost India and Russia to deepest, darkest China. May they have a long and prosperous future together!” The post came a day after Mr. Trump accused Chinese President Xi of conspiring against Washington alongside Russian leader Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong-un during China’s 80th anniversary event marking the end of World War II.
Adding weight to the controversy, Mr. Trump’s top trade adviser Peter Navarro described the growing ties between India, Russia, and China as “troublesome.” He argued that Prime Minister Modi should side firmly with Washington, Europe, and Ukraine instead of deepening his partnership with Moscow and Beijing. India’s Ministry of External Affairs, however, strongly rejected these remarks. Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, “We have seen the inaccurate and misleading statements made by Mr. Navarro, and obviously reject them.” New Delhi has so far avoided a direct response to Mr. Trump’s TruthSocial outburst but continues to stress that its foreign policy is guided by national interest and strategic autonomy, not pressure from any external power.
The dispute has also spilled over into the economic sphere. The Trump administration has slapped 25% reciprocal tariffs on India and an additional 25% duty on crude oil imports from Russia, taking the overall tariff burden on New Delhi to a staggering 50% — among the highest in the world. India has slammed the move as “unjustified and unreasonable,” warning that such trade restrictions could harm bilateral cooperation. Analysts say the episode underscores the mounting strain in U.S.-India relations, even as Washington remains wary of a potential India-Russia-China axis reshaping the global balance of power.
