4 Possible Motives Behind Trump Trade Czar Peter Navarro's Tirades Against India

Peter Navarro has repeatedly gone after India over the last few days, calling New Delhi a 'laundromat' for Russia.

Peter Navarro (left) has been lashing out against India's partnership with Russia and China over the last few days.

(Photo: PTI/Altered by The Quint)

Move over China, Russia, and Iran. The US has a new Enemy No 1: at least as far as Donald Trump's trade czar Peter Navarro's thinking goes.

In just a matter of one week, India has been slapped with 50 percent tariffs from the US, has had Trump aide Sergio Gor forced upon them not only as the new Ambassador to New Delhi, but also regional envoy for the region (including Pakistan), and badmouthed repeatedly by Navarro, who wears the hat of White House Trade Adviser.

"Peter Navarro is a Trump loyalist," former Indian diplomat Rakesh Sood tells The Quint. "Realising that the US president is on a warpath with India, Navarro has no qualms about being his attack dog."

So what's the logic behind the consistent potshots being taken by Navarro against India? We list four possible motives which might have sparked his diatribe.

Possible Motive 1: Navarro's Eccentric Nature

It all started with an off-hand comment Navarro made during an interview with Bloomberg Television, when he called the Russia-Ukraine conflict "Modi's war". During the interview, he claimed that the road to peace "runs through New Delhi".

Navarro has since gone after India with all guns blazing, calling New Delhi a "laundromat for the Kremlin". He even posted an image of PM Modi wearing a saffron robe and meditating.

"If India, the world's largest democracy, wants to be treated like a strategic partner of the US, it needs to act like one," he captioned the post.

(Photo: X/Peter Navarro)

He then said during a television interview on Monday, 1 September, that "Brahmins are profiteering at the expense of the Indian people". However, it isn't clear whether he meant Brahmins in the sense of elites in India or the Boston Brahmins, which rich business families in the city were called at one time.

His latest comments coincided with PM Modi's trip to Tianjin, China for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit, during which he held bilateral meetings with Chinese Premier Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

When asked about Modi's participation in the summit, Navarro said it was unfortunate that the Indian PM was "getting into bed" with China and Russia.

"Navarro is known to be an eccentric man. He once used an assumed name to write books. So that's a trait of his personality," Manoj Joshi, Distinguished Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation, tells The Quint.

Navarro had been criticised for "inventing" an economist by the name of Ron Vora to support his economic arguments in five of his books. When questioned about it, he claimed that he used Vora simply as a "writing device".

Former Trump aide Elon Musk had in April this year also called Navarro a "moron" who is "dumber than a sack of bricks". The insult came amid differences between Musk and Navarro over Trump's tariff plan – of which the latter was a key architect.

But could that be it? Is Navarro lashing out only because of his eccentric nature? If so, why isn't he being reigned in by the White House? Unless, of course, he has the blessing of President Trump.

While Trump has repeatedly called India out on the matter of tariffs over the last few months, in recent weeks he has maintained radio silence on the matter.

"Navarro is acting as Trump's mouthpiece on India. This is keeping Trump happy, and at the same time he can distance himself from Navarro's remarks," says Sumit Ganguly, Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University.

Possible Motive 2: India is a 'Soft Target' At the Moment

Navarro's targeting of India also comes at a time when the heat has shifted from Russia, especially after President Vladimir Putin was given red-carpet treatment by President Trump during the Alaska Summit held in August. It also comes amid a softening tone against China, with which the US hopes to secure a trade deal in the near future.

So, is India being targeted "unjustly" only because it's a soft target at the moment? Yes, according to former diplomat Rakesh Sood.

"Trump admires Putin. Instead of pushing for a ceasefire, Trump flipped in Alaska and accepted Putin's stand that only a negotiation on a comprehensive agreement was the way forward, showing that Putin clearly had the upper hand in the meeting. On trade tariffs, China is the only country that has retaliated with its own counter tariffs and export controls leading to a pause by both sides as they continue their talks. Modi projects an image of being a 'strong' leader, but doesn't have the same counter leverage and that makes him the weaker person in this equation."

Rakesh Sood

Possible Motive 3: Trump's 'Bruised Ego' Over India-Pak Ceasefire

There are also speculations about whether Navarro has been deployed against India because of Trump's "bruised ego" following India's denial of US mediation in the India-Pakistan ceasefire in May this year.

India's Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had outrightly rejected over 25 claims made by President Trump of having ended the conflict between New Delhi and Islamabad.

The claims made by Trump became the bedrock of his much publicised desire for a Nobel Peace Prize. While Pakistan endorsed his claim, India did not.

"This is a personal ego issue between Modi and Trump," says Manoj Joshi.

"Maybe we could've handled Trump better by giving him some credit for the ceasefire. We could've said that the US helped to some extent. Or in the case of Russian oil, we could've said that we are reducing our intake – now that could have happened over 10 years. We didn't play to Trump's ego."

Manoj Joshi

Following the back-and-forth following the ceasefire fiasco, Trump has been engaging more closely with Pakistan's Army Chief Asim Munir – much to the dismay of India – including inviting Munir for talks at the White House twice in less than two months.

Possible Motive 4: Pressure Tactic To Keep India on Edge

Navarro's tirade is also the latest in a string of pressure tactics being used by the US against India. On 23 August, Trump named his close aide Sergio Gor as Regional Envoy for South and Central Asian Affairs in addition to Ambassador to India, which would have pricked New Delhi as it flamed speculations about whether the US intends to intervene in India's domestic matters – particularly pertaining to Pakistan.

"India will have concerns about this intrusive US role in the region. It can lead to the US interfering in India-Pakistan ties in line with Trump's desire to mediate between New Delhi and Islamabad on Kashmir," former Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal had said while speaking to The Quint earlier.

This also comes as the US and India have been engaging to seal a trade deal. Some have opined that the pressure tactics are a mechanism to get India to relent on some important facets of the deal, such as opening up its agricultural sector to US markets.

In the current case, however, experts suggest that the recent targeting of India has less to do with the trade deal and more to do with the India-Pakistan ceasefire fiasco – and Navarro has been deployed as the man to show New Delhi down.

"India completely misread Trump," says Sumit Ganguly.

"Modi could've handled the ceasefire claims more subtly. For instance, He could've deployed S Jaishankar to say that American phone calls were helpful and facilitated matters. If I have any criticism of the Indian government, it's that they could've used slightly more subtle language or signaling. They thought they have a rapport with Trump. What they failed to understand is that he's a highly mercurial individual who changes his mind at short notice, is extremely thin-skinned, and easily offended."

Sumit Ganguly

Some others also suggest that the official line taken by the US to impose additional tariffs against India – that New Delhi's continued import of Russian oil is fueling the war in Ukraine – is actually a mask to target India. The reality is that Trump is surrounded by several "yes-men", like Navarro, who would like nothing more than to assuage the boss' ego over the ceasefire by calling those out who did not bend to his will – in this case, India.

"The US government's line of Russian oil imports as the reason for additional tariffs against India is a lame excuse as we started purchasing more of Russian oil at the US' behest when the Ukraine conflict began," senior journalist Sanjay Kapoor tells The Quint.

At the time the Russia-Ukraine war had broken out and the US – then under former President Joe Biden – was applying sanctions on Moscow and its close trading partners, India had been exempted from sanctions under the CAATSA (Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act) as New Delhi had unequivocally conveyed its position to Washington that it simply cannot stop its trade with Russia, particularly for oil, as it would greatly hamper supplies in the country.

In fact, Eric Garcetti, former US Ambassador to India under President Biden, had even said during an event in May that the US actually wanted India to buy Russian oil during the conflict to avoid the destabilisation of global oil supply.

MEA Maintains Silence on Navarro's Claims

The MEA is yet to react to the constant diatribe by Navarro. Neither External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar nor the MEA's Official Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal has offered any rebuttal for the trade czar's comments.

This is unusual as the MEA has been quick on its toes to counter criticism – as was the case last month when they had accused both the US and the European Union of hypocrisy following their criticism of India's continued import of Russian oil.

"India is just taking it on the chin and hoping that it blows over,” says Manoj Joshi.

Sumit Ganguly agrees.

"India is beginning to realise that further statements would exacerbate an already troubled situation. The MEA's silence is probably desirable at the moment and letting others do the talking is actually a sound strategy. There's no need to let this relationship spiral down further."

Sumit Ganguly

(The Quint has reached out to the Ministry of External Affairs regarding Peter Navarro's statements against India. This article will be updated as and when they respond.)