Peter Navarro, senior counselor to President Donald Trump for trade and manufacturing, predicted that the government of India would soon have to choose between its alliance with the United States and profiting from business with Russia and China during a special Founders Roundtable on Breitbart Fight Club on Thursday evening.
Navarro described himself as “pissed off” at justifications from pro-Indian individuals and groups defending India’s massive increase in Russian crude oil purchases which finance Moscow’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Indian officials have vocally defended their decision to finance the Russian oil industry, repeatedly insisting their duty is to the Indian people and that any global consequences for their economic choices were secondary to the health of the Indian economy.
India is one of the world’s most formidable oil refining powers, but with limited oil reserves of its own. As a result, its economy demands significant imports from abroad. The government of Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi chose to dramatically increase imports of Russian oil in 2022 following Western sanctions on Moscow, which had sent the price of Russian crude plummeting.
Answering a question from a Breitbart reader about India’s relationship to Russia and China, Navarro said that he was “bullish” on the future relationship between India and America, but that the Indian government, based on the will of the Indian people, had to decide whether its relationship with America was worth risking to keep its ties to adversarial dictatorships such as China and Russia.
“I’m so pissed off at some of the Indian community because look, India has been buying Russian oil and they never bought Russian oil before Ukraine got invaded, right?” he said. “And the only reason why India bought Russian oil was so their big oil refiners could make a buck. The deal [Russian strongman Vladimir] Putin offered them was, ‘We’ll sell you at a discount, you refine it in partnership with Russian refiners, and then sell it to the rest of the world.’ I had the temerity to point out that that doesn’t work.”
“So of course the Indian-U.S. relationship is critical, but let’s ask ourselves the question,” Navarro continued. “What the hell has India been doing buying Russian oil, buying Russian weapons instead of buying it from us and letting China work with India to dump products into the U.S.?”
India is a founding member of BRICS, an anti-American economic and defense coalition largely considered to be led by China. It is named after its core members, Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, and has grown to include Indonesia, Iran, Ethiopia, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates. Last year, BRICS expanded to include a host of secondary “partner” states, most of them rogue communist and socialist regimes such as Cuba, Belarus, Vietnam, and Uzbekistan.
Following his re-election in November, President Donald Trump made clear that he would prioritize dismantling BRICS influence around the world. In a message published shortly after his electoral victory, Trump threatened to impose a tariff of 100 percent on BRICS countries if they pursued the creation of a joint currency to topple the supremacy of the U.S. dollar — a longstanding, openly discussed BRICS project.
Following Trump’s reconfiguration of American trade policy in July, he offered a similar warning: “Any Country aligning themselves with the Anti-American policies of BRICS, will be charged an ADDITIONAL 10% Tariff. There will be no exceptions to this policy.”
India’s trade negotiations with the Trump administration are ongoing and have been hampered by India’s insistence on aiding the Russian economy and thus, the Ukraine invasion. As of August 27, Indian imports into the United States face a 50 percent tariff: a 25 percent baseline tariff, plus a 25 percent punitive tariff over the Russian oil buys. Economists estimate that, by the end of the next fiscal year, Trump’s tariffs will have offset the savings India obtains from buying Russian crude.
Navarro has consistently been among the most critical advisers around the president regarding India’s relationship with Russia. In August, he referred to the Ukraine invasion as “Modi’s war” due to the great benefit that New Delhi offers Russia financially. In his remarks on Thursday, Navarro praised Modi personally, recalling that he referred to the Indian leader as the “Trump of India” when he first rose to prominence in Indian politics, but that his government needed to resolve inconsistencies in its diplomacy.
“The question is are they going to keep cheating us, are they going to keep working with BRICS, are they going to keep laying down with China and Russia?” he asked. “Those are big questions. Those are for the Indian people to answer, ok? Let them answer it and depending on how that goes, we’ll see.”
Peter Navarro served four months in a federal prison in defense of the Constitution. His new book, I Went to Prison So You Won’t Have To: A Love and Lawfare Story in Trump Land, is available now for pre-order in hardcover and eBook.
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