Democrats Warn Trump’s Tariffs Could Push India Away at a Critical Moment
Congressional hearing sees sharp criticism as Democrats say Trump’s tariff war and visa fees threaten decades of US–India diplomatic and defence gains.
US, Dec 11 : Democrats issued a stark warning during a heated Congressional hearing, arguing that President Donald Trump’s escalating tariff regime and confrontational stance toward New Delhi could inflict lasting damage on one of America’s most important global partnerships.
Speaking at the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on South and Central Asia’s review of the US–India strategic relationship, Democratic Ranking Member Sydney Kamlager-Dove accused Trump of dismantling decades of bipartisan progress. She said the Biden administration had handed him “a bilateral relationship at the height of its strength,” pointing to a revitalised Quad, a growing defence technology partnership and India’s emergence as a trusted supply chain ally all of which were now being, in her words, “flush, flush, flush down the toilet.”
Kamlager-Dove warned that history may judge the President harshly. “Unless he changes course, Trump will be the American President who lost India,” she said. “You do not get a Nobel Peace Prize by driving strategic partners into the arms of our adversaries.”
Central to the criticism are Trump’s 25 per cent “Liberation Day tariffs,” combined with an additional 25 per cent levy on India’s imports of Russian oil a combined 50 per cent tariff burden. She noted that “the tariff rate on India is currently higher than the tariff rate on China,” calling the policy self-defeating and strategically reckless.
Democrats further argued that Trump is weakening people-to-people ties by imposing a $100,000 fee on H-1B visas, “70 per cent of which are held by Indians,” describing it as a direct rebuke to the Indian diaspora’s contributions in the United States.
Testifying before the panel, Dhruva Jaishankar of ORF America said the two nations had been close to a trade agreement earlier in the year, and a solution remains within reach if Washington demonstrates political will. Witnesses cautioned that tariff escalation risks overshadowing priority areas such as countering China and stabilising global supply chains.
“This has been a low-cost, high-benefit partnership for the United States,” one expert told lawmakers. “It would be strategic malpractice of the highest order to discard the trust we have built.”
The hearing underscored that the tariff dispute has emerged as the most politically charged issue in the US–India relationship and one with significant geopolitical consequences.
