The US these days is sermonising India, vilifying India and blaming India for the Russia-Ukraine war. This has almost become a routine for Trump administration officials and meme material for Indians. However, US President Donald Trumpโs trade adviser Peter Navarro now claimed that the Ukraine-Russia war is somehow โModiโs warโ simply because India buys Russian oil.
In an interview with Bloomberg, White House Trade Adviser Peter Navarro blamed India for being the reason behind the US and Europe funding Ukraine against Russiaโs aggression.
โUkraine comes to us and Europe and says give us more money (for its war). Everybody in America loses because of what India is doing. Consumers and businesses lose; workers lose because Indiaโs high tariffs cause jobs, income and higher wages. The taxpayer loses because we got to fund Modiโs war,โ Navarro harangued.
Itโs clear that the US has absolutely no interest in ending the Ukraine war. Their take on India is getting more ludicrous every day โฆ
โ Prof. Shamika Ravi (@ShamikaRavi) August 28, 2025
He added, โThe road to peace runs at least partly through New Delhi.โ The White House trade advisor went on to label India โarrogantโ for prioritising its energy needs and advised it to โside with democracies.โ
โThe Indians are so arrogant about this. They say we donโt have higher tariffs. Itโs our sovereignty. We can buy oil from anyone we want. India, youโre the biggest democracy in the world. Okay? Act like one. Side with the democracies,โ Navarro said.
Navarro further attacked India for smoothening its ties with China, expressing his frustration over Indiaโs growing relations with Moscow and Beijing, whom he labelled as โauthoritarians.โ
โYouโre getting in bed with the authoritarians. China, youโve been at quiet war with them for decades. They invaded Aksai Chin and all your territory. These are not your friends, folks. Okay? And the Russians, I mean, come on,โ Navarro said.
Navarroโs remarks come after the 50 per cent tariffs on Indian goods imposed by the Donald Trump administration came into force on Wednesday. Of the 50 per cent tariffs, 25 per cent are imposed because of Indiaโs continued purchases of Russian oil and military equipment, which the Ministry of External Affairs has described as โextremely unfortunateโ and reiterated its stand to protect its national interest.
How conveniently Navarro labelled the Russia-Ukraine war as โModiโs warโ as if Prime Minister Narendra asked both the countries to start fighting so India could make money out of it. If it anyone elseโs war other than Russia and Ukraine, its Americaโs war. No one have profiteered from Russia-Ukraine war than the United States.
Between accusing India of fuelling โRussian war machineโ to now mindlessly calling the Russia-Ukraine conflict, โModiโs warโ, the US skipped looking into its own deeds. ย While Navarro attacks India, during his meeting with the US President in Alaska on 16th August, Russian President Vladimir Putinย revealedย that US-Russia bilateral trade had expanded by over 20 per cent in the past few months, exposing Trumpโs persistent claims that the US has been pressuring Moscow to end its war in Ukraine.
Notably, American oil companies have made record profits since the Russia-Ukraine war broke out in 2022. From liquified natural gas (LNG)ย exports, arms sales, and several other war-driven opportunities, the US is apparently the biggest profiteer of Russia-Ukraine war.ย
The US sold its cheap LNG to Europe at monumentally higher prices, oftenย four timesย the US domestic rate citing โwar-induced disruptions, benefiting from Europeโs urgent need for alternatives. In 2022, US oil and gas companies like Chevron and ExxonMobil registered record profits with a massive 125% jump from pre-war 2021.
Even recently, Exxon Mobil has been working out a plan to return to Russiaโs Sakhalin-1 oil and gas project. During the Alaska meeting on Russian President Vladimir Putin and his American counterpart, discussions were held regarding allowing Russia to purchase American equipment for its liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects, including Arctic LNG 2, although it is currently under sanctions. So much for โpunishingโ Russia and stopping Putinโs โwar machineโ.
Beyond energy, the US also benefitted from Russia-Ukraine war through its defence exports. The US provided over $19 billion in military equipment to Ukraine, leading to rise in stock prices of American defence manufacturers like Lockheed Martin and Raytheon.ย
Not to forget, the US shamelessly boasted that its defence supplies to Ukraine are bolstering American economy. Earlier, the US brought a $95 billion supplemental defence bill, with $60.7 billion allocated to Ukraine, promising that 64% of its funds will โrejuvenate the US defence industry.
Now, Donald Trump is selling its weapons to Ukraine through European nations at a 10% premium, essentially to fill Americaโs coffers while people from both Russia and Ukraine continue to lose life. Trump has even put a cost to US involvement in providing security guarantees to Ukraine.
When US sells weapons to Europe intended for Ukraine with a 10% markup, it is great, when India buys Russian oil for domestic needs and sells its own petroleum products to Europe and America, India is fuelling Russian war machine and it suddenly becomes Modiโs war.
America profiteered from the Russia-Ukraine war and is also trying its best to profiteer from brokering peace. If peace talks for ending Russia-Ukraine war are more about America getting lucrative trade deals from Russia and Ukraine, than terms of ceasefire, territorial returns or retentions and guarantees to ensure lasting peace, it is clear that the US is only eyeing profits not peace essentially.
Besides profiteering from Russia-Ukraine war, America has also continued its trade relations with Moscow. From non-ferrous metals, fertilizers, inorganic chemicals, to nuclear reactors and machinery, prepared animal feed, iron and steel, and oil seeds, etc, the US imports from Russia have been consistent and, in some cases, have increased. This is while the West has imposed numerous sanctions on Russia and claims to have intentions of crippling Russian economy.
The Europe and America have problem with India buying Russian oil, but have no qualms about buying petroleum products made out of Russian crude. Itโs simple, if you donโt like it, donโt buy it. They America does, Europe does. If the West does not loathe itself for buying Russian oil-made petroleum products, it should not villainise India for selling the same.
If not for India, the global energy prices would have shot up exponentially, triggering a crisis, but India is fuelling Russian war machine.
US trading with Russia, selling weapons to Ukraine to boost American economy, selling its products to Europe after ousting Russia from the market, but somehow India is profiteering from Russia-Ukraine war.
Peter Navarro is also upset with improving India-China relations. Navarro, however, does not need to remind India of what China did in the past or what it has been doing against India. Thereโs reason why the West wanted India to be the counterweight to China. Indiaโs tilt towards China is with cautious optimism. No one has countered Chinaโs bullish behaviour and expansionist agenda like India.
India remembers all the wounds inflicted by China. India remembers Chinaโs mindless border aggression and illegal claims over Indian territories, India remembers Aksai Chin, Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir, India remembers Chinaโs military and policy support to Islamic terrorist state of Pakistan, India also remembersย Chinaโs defence support and vow to protect Pakistan against India during Operation Sindoor.
But India has also not forgotten USโs constant backing of Pakistan even as the latter gave 9/11 to America and squeezed dollars out of America in the name of fighting terrorism in Afghanistan.
In his first term, Trump stopped financial aid to Pakistan. In ย July 2012, Trump hadย calledย out Pakistan for hiding Osama Bin Laden for six years and questioned when it would apologise. Trump said that Pakistan fooled the US by hiding Laden. In 2018, Trump accused Pakistan of lying and deceiving the US by accepting its financial aid worth billions of dollars and in turn nurturing terrorists that killed the US military personnel in Afghanistan.
Despite this, the US, which has a disproportionately highย voting shareย in the International Monetary Fund (IMF)ย choseย not to block the IMFโs bailout package worth $ 1 billion to Pakistan, at a time when India was conducting Operation Sindoor to eliminate terror camps in Pakistan and the PoJK.
President Trump hosted Pakistanโs Madrasa-bred Field Marshal Asim Munir at White House. The US and Pakistan have signed trade deal, Trump is eyeing Balochistanโs natural resources, and even heaping praises on Pakistan. Peter Navarro sermonises India that India being the worldโs largest democracy should behave like one and side with democratic powers like US, but what sort of a democracy mollycoddles a terrorist state? Which democracy allows the Army Chief of another country to issue nuclear war threats against USโs โpartnerโ India on American soil?
Navarro wants India not to improve ties with China, and side with America completely (read surrender its strategic autonomy, self-respect and sovereignty), but how is US any different from China? US is also backing Pakistan despite its numerous terror attacks including Mumbai 26/11, Pulwama, Pathankot, and Pahalgam. Calling Pakistan a โgood counterterrorism partnerโ just after Pakistani Islamic terrorists killed innocent Indians, talking trade with Pakistan right after designating Pakistani Jihadist group TRF, a foreign terrorist organisation, is clearly not an appropriate conduct of the worldโs oldest democracy seeking โpartnershipโ of the worldโs largest democracy. How can US undermine India interests, befriend Indiaโs enemies and expect New Delhi to cooperate with Washington to counter the latterโs so-called nemesis?
China is the biggest buyer of Russian oil, but itโs Modiโs war. Despite China being the biggest buyer and seller of Russian oil, China does not invite USโs ire. China did not get heavily tariffed as India got. In fact, Marco Rubio even justified Washingtonโs soft stance on China. Now, Trump wants 6 lakh Chinese students in US. Why is it that India gets all the hostilities, tariffs and blames but China gets rewarded? Navarro is fine with Trump rewarding but cries hoarse when India and China mutually decide to resolve issues.
Clearly, the US has no great interest in ending the Ukraine-Russia war, its interest is in squeezing profits in war and in peace. The Trump administrationโs tirade against India, stems from Indiaโs rejection of Trumpโs claims of having brokered India-Pakistan ceasefire, not nominating Trump for Nobel Peace Prize, and refusing to sign trade deal to fill USโs coffers while destroying Indian dairy and agricultural market. Beyond the glaring hypocrisy, it seems that the Trump administration has decided to blame India to deflect attention from the fact that it the US which is profiteering from Russia-Ukraine war.
