‘Putin is a cold calculator, doesn’t care if India…’: Expert on US official’s threat of higher, secondary tariffs

Foreign policy commentator Indrani Bagchi on Friday shared a bitter pill for Indians ahead of US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s meeting in Alaska. She said that the West believes that bullying India is a way to get Putin to stop the Russian offensive against Ukraine. 

Her take comes after US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned that the Trump administration could hike new US tariffs on India if the meeting between Trump and Putin does not yield progress.

“This is dangerous. West believes India is special to Russia so beat up India to get to Putin. Putin is a cold calculator and frankly doesn’t care if India is hit. So India will become a punching bag to affect outcomes beyond India’s abilities,” Bagchi wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter).  

But, what does Trump want out of all this? As per columnist Abhishek Banerjee, the US President “wants India to sign away its sovereignty forever”. 

Replying to a social media user, Banerjee wrote: “Not possible. Trump wants India to sign away its sovereignty forever, and become subjects like Europeans, Japanese, and Koreans. That means we will never be a superpower.” 

Citing an anecdote from Hindol Sengupta’s book Sardar Patel: The Man Who Saved India, Banerjee said that our ancestors have already made the choice for us. 

Trump slapped 50 per cent tariffs on Indian imports, including an additional 25 per cent duty on New Delhi’s purchase of Russian oil. The US tariffs on India will take effect on August 27. 

“I think everyone has been frustrated with President Putin. We expected that he would come to the table in a more fulsome way. It looks like he may be ready to negotiate. And we put secondary tariffs on the Indians for buying Russian oil. I could see, if things don’t go well, then sanctions or secondary tariffs could go up,” Bessent told Bloomberg on Wednesday.