Looks like we lost India to ‘darkest’ China: Trump

It looks like the US has lost India and Russia to “darkest” China, President Donald Trump said on Friday in his latest remarks as ties between New Delhi and Washington continue to reel under possibly the worst phase in over two decades.
Trump’s latest post on social media came days after the bonhomie among Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin at a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in the Chinese city of Tianjin drew global attention.
“Looks like we have lost India and Russia to deepest, darkest China. May they have a long and prosperous future together!” the US president said on Truth Social.
The relations between New Delhi and Washington are on a downturn after Trump doubled tariffs on Indian goods to a whopping 50 per cent, including a 25 per cent additional duties for India’s purchase of Russian crude oil. The additional tariff has already come into effect from August 27.
India described the US action as “unfair, unjustified and unreasonable” and even wondered why it has been singled out for the punitive action.
Surprisingly, the US has not imposed any punitive measures on China, the largest importer of Russian crude oil.
In the last few days, several Trump administration officials, including White House trade advisor Peter Navarro, have used offensive language to target India.
India’s big oil lobby has turned the largest democracy in the world into a “massive refining hub and oil money laundromat for the Kremlin”, Navarro said last week.
Though the focus of the SCO summit on Monday was to ensure deeper security and economic complementarities among its member nations, what drew larger attention was the public display of bonhomie among Modi, Putin and Xi, signalling a broader convergence among the leading three powers.
A video of Modi and Putin holding hands and walking towards Xi, and then all three forming a close circle as good friends went viral on social media.