United States President Donald Trump on Friday said India and Russia seem to have been “lost” to China after their leaders met with Chinese President Xi Jinping this week, highlighting his split from New Delhi and Moscow as Beijing pushes a new world order.
“Looks like we’ve lost India and Russia to deepest, darkest China. May they have a long and prosperous future together!” Trump wrote in a social media post accompanying a photo of the three other world leaders together at Xi’s summit in China.
Asked about Trump’s post, the Indian foreign ministry spokesperson told reporters in New Delhi that he had no comment.
Representatives for Beijing and Moscow could not be immediately reached for comment on Trump’s post on his Truth Social platform.
Xi hosted more than 20 leaders of non-Western countries for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in the Chinese port city of Tianjin, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Putin and Modi were seen holding hands at the summit as they walked toward Xi before all three men stood side by side.
Modi’s warming ties with China come as Trump has chilled US-India ties amid trade tensions and other disputes. Trump earlier this week said he was ”very disappointed” in Putin but not worried about growing Russia-China ties.
India plans relief package for exporters hit by US tariffs
Separately, India will roll out a package of measures to help exporters hurt by a surge in US tariffs, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said today.
The new US duties slapped on Indian goods last month included a 25 per cent punitive levy over New Delhi’s Russian oil purchases — taking overall duties as high as 50pc on a wide range of items from garments and jewellery to footwear and chemicals.
“Government will come out with something to handhold those who have been hit by 50pc tariffs,” Sitharaman told CNN TV18, without going into further detail.
The government plans to offer credit guarantees on loans overdue by up to 90 days for small businesses and exporters, Reuters reported earlier, citing government sources.
Exporters said labour-intensive sectors such as textiles, jewellery and seafood, particularly shrimp, which all operate on margins of just 3-5pc — have been hit hardest, causing job losses in industrial hubs in Tamil Nadu and Modi’s home state of Gujarat.
“Textiles and apparel manufacturers in Tiruppur, Noida and Surat have halted production amid worsening cost competitiveness,” SC Ralhan, president of the Federation of Indian Export Organisations, said.
The tariffs, among the highest imposed by the Trump administration, delivered a serious blow to ties between the two powerful democracies that had in recent decades become strategic partners.
Nearly 55pc of Indian exports to the US, worth about $48 billion, now face a cost disadvantage against rivals from Vietnam, China and Bangladesh, Ralhan said last week ahead of an exporters’ meeting with the finance minister.
Thousands of workers have already been laid off, exporters have said.
Sitharaman also said that India would continue to buy Russian oil as it proves economical.
New Delhi has said its purchases of Russian oil have kept the markets in balance.
“We will have to take a call [on] which [supply source] suits us the best. So we will undoubtedly be buying it,” the finance minister said, adding that India spends most of its foreign exchange on purchases of crude oil and refined fuels.
“Whether it is Russian oil or anything else, it’s our decision to buy from the place which suits our needs whether in terms of rates, logistics, anything,” Sitharaman added.