Washington, D.C.- US President Donald Trump on Thursday made a new, harsh attack on India’s trading connection with Russia. Trump wrote on Truth Social, “I don’t care what India does with Russia,” without any filters. For all I care, they can bring their dead economies down together. He also repeated his long-standing complaints about India, saying, “We don’t do much business with India because their tariffs are too high, one of the highest in the world.”
After that, Trump got angry with Russia and its former president. “Russia and the US also don’t do much business with each other. Let’s maintain it that way and urge Medvedev, the former President of Russia who thinks he’s still President, to be careful what he says. “He’s going into very dangerous territory!” he said, referring to Dmitry Medvedev’s recent comments.
President Trump’s most recent outburst comes only one day after he officially declared a 25% duty on Indian imports, which would start on August 1, as well as an undisclosed “penalty” for India’s close commercial and defense relations with Russia. This earlier announcement was a clear hint of a big change in commercial relations between the US and India.
Trump Gets Mad at Medvedev’s “Ultimatum Game”
Donald Trump’s anger seems to have been sparked by what former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said. Medvedev said on X (previously Twitter) on Monday that the US President was playing “the ultimatum game” with Russia. He warned that this may lead to a direct war involving the US. “Every new ultimatum is a threat and a step toward war.” Medvedev wrote, “Not between Russia and Ukraine, but with (Trump’s) own country.”
Before Medvedev spoke, Trump had already said he was unhappy that Russian President Vladimir Putin hadn’t ended the war in Ukraine. He also cut the time limit for agreeing to a peace deal from 50 days to only 10 or 12 days. This showed how frustrated he was getting with the war.
Indian Markets Don’t Like Tariff Threats
Indian financial markets saw the effects of Trump’s trade threats right away. After the news of the 25% tariff and the extra penalty, Indian stocks fell on Thursday morning.
The Nifty 50 was down 0.61% to 24,703.1 points at 9:46 AM IST, and the BSE Sensex was down 0.64% to 80,963.14. All 16 major industries saw losses, therefore the losses were widespread. The broader market also took a hit, with small-cap stocks dropping about 0.6% and mid-cap equities dropping about 0.9%.
India is the only major trading partner that has to pay a 25% tariff, which could end months of trade talks between the two countries. President Trump said that the US is “still negotiating with India on trade,” even though he used harsh language and announced tariffs right away. This shows that the diplomatic situation is complicated and changing.