21.08.2025, New Delhi.
By issuing indirect threats and directives to India, the United States will only strengthen New Delhi’s ties with Russia and China, the Indian edition of the Rossa Primavera News Agency’s India Desk wrote on August 21.
On August 18, Senior Counselor to the US President for Trade and Manufacturing Peter Navarro, in his Financial Times column, stated that for the sake of a strategic partnership with the US, India needs to change its behavior.
In addition to accusing India of close ties with Russia and China, Navarro argued that the record $50 billion US trade deficit with India is caused by high tariffs imposed by New Delhi on foreign goods. He justified Washington’s 50% tariffs as fair under such circumstances.
In reality, the US trade deficit with India is not due to Indian tariffs. After all, these tariffs do not prevent China, unlike the US, from maintaining a trade surplus with India.
The real reason lies in India’s much cheaper labor force. Moreover, English is one of India’s official languages, meaning there is no language barrier, allowing Indian labor to be used in the services sector and not just in goods production.
Major IT companies recognized this imbalance more than 30 years ago and began outsourcing support and later even development of their software products to India, saving themselves billions of dollars.
The Trump administration continues to pretend not to understand these basic realities while employing rather insulting rhetoric in its public communication with India. Apparently, Washington believes this will pressure New Delhi into accepting trade terms favorable to the US.
However, despite India’s diplomatic flexibility, it also has its red lines. New Delhi clearly perceives disrespectful attitude, which it will remember for a long time. Such actions seem to merely encourage New Delhi to strengthen its ties with Moscow and stabilize its relations with Beijing.
Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency
