 "Donald Trump risks being 'president who lost India', warns US lawmaker")
Donald Trump risks becoming “the president who lost India”, warned US State Representative Sydney Kamlager-Dove, calling out the Republican leader's "obsession" for Nobel Prize. Her remarks came during a congressional hearing on the US-India Strategic Partnership, amid escalating tensions over visa fees and tariffs.
During the hearing, Kamlager-Dove, who represents California’s 37th Congressional District in Los Angeles County, said when history is written, analysts will point to “his personal obsession with a Nobel Peace Prize” as the point where antagonism towards India began.
“Trump will be the American president who lost India, or more accurately, who chased India away while revitalising the Russian empire,” she said, referring to the now widely selfie of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the latter's recent India visit.
Democrat Kamlager-Dove is a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, where she serves as the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on South and Central Asia. She is the Whip of the Congressional Black Caucus, Co-Chair of the Congressional Brazil Caucus, and Policy Co-Chair of the Democratic Women’s Caucus.
'Trump India tariffs pointless'
“Singling out India for 50 per cent tariffs, one of the highest rates imposed on any country, has effectively derailed leader-level meetings between our two countries,” she said.
Trump announced 50 per cent tariffs on India in August, including a 25 per cent "penalty" for importing Russian crude.
Kamlager-Dove called the additional 25 per cent tariff "pointless", especially “when Steve Witkoff, the US' Special Envoy to West Asia, is holding backroom deals with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s advisors to sell out Ukraine in exchange for some business investment”.
'Trump's policies hurting people-to-people ties'
The US lawmaker said Trump had also targeted the “people-to-people” ties between the two countries. Pointing to the $100,000 fee on H-1B visas, 70 per cent of which are held by Indians, she described it as a rebuke to the immense contributions Indians have made to science, technology, medicine and the arts in the US.
‘Trump’s coercive policies come with a cost’
Kamlager-Dove said the Modi-Putin bonhomie reflected the cost of Trump’s coercive approach. “Trump’s policies towards India can only be described as cutting our nose to spite our face... Being a coercive partner has a cost. And this poster is worth a thousand words,” she said.
“You do not get a Nobel Peace Prize by driving US strategic partners into the arms of our adversaries. We must move with incredible urgency to mitigate the damage that this administration has done to the US-India partnership and return to the cooperation that is essential to US prosperity, security and global leadership,” she added.
Earlier this week, Trump hinted at potential fresh duties on Indian rice exports. He accused New Delhi of flooding the US market with cheap shipments that undercut American farmers, speaking at a White House meeting where he also unveiled a $12-billion support package for US agricultural producers.