• Source:JND
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US President Donald Trump, on Friday, for the first time, publicly acknowledged India was the biggest customer, and that imposing a 50 per cent tariff on India "was not an easy thing to do". He admitted it caused a rift with New Delhi. The admission came on Fox News during an interview when the host asked what clamping down on Russian President Vladimir Putin entails.

"But I've already done it. I've done a lot,” Trump said. “And remember this is a Europe problem much more than our problem,” Trump added.

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“I solved seven wars": Trump

In the interview, Trump also repeated his claim that he has solved seven conflicts so far in his second term as President. “I solved seven wars. I did so many, including Pakistan and India, but big ones, some were unsolvable, Congo and Rwanda. I solved it. It was going on for 31 years, millions of people killed. I solve wars that was unsolvable,” he said.

Defending its purchase of Russian crude oil, India has been maintaining that its energy procurement is driven by national interest and market dynamics. 

Trump's u-turn on Indian tariffs

The statement came a week after Trump appeared to backtrack from his previous remark about "losing" India to China. Trump was asked about his comment on whether he blamed anyone for "losing India to China". He responded, "I don't think we have."He added that he gets "along very well" with Prime Minister Modi but was "very disappointed" with India over New Delhi's purchase of Russian oil. "I've been very disappointed that India would be buying so much oil, as you know, from Russia, and let them know that we put a very big tariff on India, 50 per cent tariff, very hot tariff," he noted.

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This prompted a positive reply from Prime Minister Narendra Modi via a tweet on last Saturday. PM Modi responded warmly to Trump's affirmation of India-US ties, expressing that he "deeply appreciates and fully reciprocates" the US President's sentiments and positive assessment of the bilateral relations. "President Trump's style of arguing reminds me of Aristotle, who said that if you contradict yourself, then I don't have to contradict you. So President Trump has contradicted himself. First, he said that he has lost India to China. Now he says he hasn't lost it,” noted Fabian.

(With inputs from agency)