Former US NSA Bolton slams Peter Navarro's remarks on India, calls them "aberration of Trump administration"

Washington, DC [US], September 13 : Former US National Security Advisor John Bolton has criticised Trump aide Peter Navarro's recent remarks on India, saying his comments do not represent wider American opinion and reflect a lack of understanding of global affairs.

"Look, Peter doesn't know anything about world affairs. Really, he has a hard time distinguishing who America's friends are, who America's friends should be, and how you treat friends," Bolton toldin an interview.

"I like to say back from the first term, if you left Peter in a room alone for about an hour and came back, he'd be arguing with himself. So it's not the best form of diplomacy. And again, this is an aberration of the Trump administration. This is not a reflection of broader American opinion."

Navarro, who serves as Trump's trade adviser, has in recent weeks taken repeated jibes at New Delhi, accusing India of profiteering from discounted Russian crude and claiming its tariffs are "costing American jobs."

He has described India as a "laundromat for the Kremlin" and even made casteist remarks, alleging that "Brahmins are profiteering" from the Russian oil trade.

Responding to these statements, Bolton pointed out that India should not see Navarro's language as a shift in US policy.

It is also worth noting that, on Tuesday, President Trump expressed confidence in reaching a "successful conclusion" and looked forward to speaking with PM Modi in the upcoming weeks over the trade deal.

"I am pleased to announce that India and the United States of America are continuing negotiations to address the Trade Barriers between our two Nations. I look forward to speaking with my very good friend, Prime Minister Modi, in the upcoming weeks. I feel certain that there will be no difficulty in coming to a successful conclusion for both of our Great Countries!" Trump stated in a post on Truth Social.

This comes even after United States President Donald Trump backtracked and praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi as his "friend".

Bolton, who has also served as US Ambassador to the United Nations, criticised Trump's "erratic behaviour" of imposing tariffs on India for its Russian oil purchases, while questioning why similar actions were not taken against countries like China, Turkey, and Pakistan for the same practice.

Last month, the Trump administration levied 25 per cent reciprocal tariffs on India, with another 25 per cent levy stacked on top of it for New Delhi's purchase of oil and weapons from Moscow.

"The sanctions are not part of normal trade conversation, and it's part of Trump's approach to Russia's unprovoked aggression against Ukraine. This connection shows how erratic Trump could be because he has not sanctioned or tariffed Russia or violated the sanctions, nor has he sanctioned or tariffed China for violating the sanctions, and China is a much bigger purchaser than India is. And there are many other purchasers, Turkey, Pakistan, and others," Bolton said when asked how he sees the current tariff.

Acknowledging that it would be frustrating for India to deal with Trump's actions, John Bolton noted the need to find ways to resolve the issues."Government of India should look at Trump as a one-time proposition and deal with it and take whatever steps they believe are in Indian's national interest, but to understand it as peculiar to Trump and not reflecting some larger American view," said Bolton.

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