Former US National Security Advisor John Bolton has accused former President Donald Trump of damaging decades of American diplomatic efforts to bring India closer to the US and away from Russia and China. Speaking to CNN, Bolton criticised Trump for imposing heavy tariffs on India over its purchase of Russian oil while showing leniency towards China.
Bolton said Trump’s approach could be an “enormous mistake” as it risks pushing India closer to Russia and China. He noted that while Trump engaged in a brief trade conflict with China earlier this year, he has avoided escalating it further, pending a possible deal with Beijing. In contrast, India was hit with tariffs exceeding 50%, including a 25% secondary tariff aimed at penalising its oil imports from Russia.
According to Bolton, the secondary tariff, intended to harm Russia, has instead created the “worst outcome” for the US. India reacted “very negatively”, partly because it saw that China was not facing similar measures. He warned this could encourage India, Russia, and China to coordinate against US interests.
US foreign policy expert Christopher Padilla also expressed concern, saying the tariffs could cause long-term damage to India-US relations by raising doubts about America’s reliability as a partner.
In an earlier opinion piece for The Hill, Bolton argued that Trump’s softer stance on Beijing could sacrifice US strategic interests in pursuit of a trade deal with Chinese President Xi Jinping. He cautioned that giving China more favourable treatment on tariffs than India would be a “potentially enormous mistake”.
India has so far refused to halt its Russian oil imports, calling the US tariffs “unfair and unreasonable”. Russia has backed India, accusing Washington of applying illegal trade pressure. Bolton suggested that Russian President Vladimir Putin could use his upcoming meeting with Trump to exploit the India tariffs dispute to his advantage.
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