New Delhi [India], July 30 : In the wake of US President Trump imposing 25 per cent tariffs on India from August 1, Congress leader Pawan Khera criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said that there was a question mark on the PM's security policy, foreign policy and trade policy.
Speaking to ANI, Khera questioned What kind of foreign policy is this?
"What is left to say after this? Till yesterday, we were hopeful that the Prime Minister would show some courage and say that Trump has been lying about the ceasefire. We thought maybe he is afraid of the trade deal and that is why he is not saying anything. Now the trade deal has also been exposed... What kind of foreign policy is this?" he said.
"During the tenure of former PM Manmohan Singh, we brought a nuclear waiver, and there was no tariff or controversy. During his speech on Tuesday, PM Modi did not give an answer to any one question, including the ceasefire, Pahalgam. There is a question mark on PM's Security policy, Foreign policy and Trade policy," he further said.
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said that India will pay a 25 per cent tariff and an additional penalty for the trade deficit.
Trump in a post on his Truth Social platform said, "Remember, while India is our friend, we have, over the years, done relatively little business with them because their Tariffs are far too high, among the highest in the World, and they have the most strenuous and obnoxious non-monetary Trade Barriers of any Country. Also, they have always bought a vast majority of their military equipment from Russia, and are Russia's largest buyer of ENERGY, along with China, at a time when everyone wants Russia to STOP THE KILLING IN UKRAINE - ALL THINGS NOT GOOD! INDIA WILL THEREFORE BE PAYING A TARIFF OF 25%, PLUS A PENALTY FOR THE ABOVE, STARTING ON AUGUST 1st. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER. MAGA!"
Earlier today, terming the move by US President Donald Trump to impose 25 per cent tariffs on India as a "setback for the country", Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi "should not be scared" and "this is blackmail by the United States".
In an interview with ANI, Jairam Ramesh also attacked the Modi government, saying the praise of the US President has had no effect and "taareef hi tareef mein tariff lag gaya".
He said it was also a setback for PM Modi and "there were no gains from Howdy Modi and Namaste Trump" events.
"This is a huge setback to PM Modi and India...Taareef hi tareef mein tariff lag gaya...There were no gains from Howdy Modi and Namaste Trump..President Trump has stated 30 times that he halted Operation Sindoor...So what did we get from this (India-US) friendship? The country is still questioning why Operation Sindoor was suddenly stopped..This is a huge setback for our country, our economy and the PM," Jairam Ramesh told ANI.
"The PM should not be scared. This is blackmail by the US...It is a time of trouble for us. This will impact our engineering, pharmaceuticals, and business industries. This is a huge challenge before us. We used to think there were two big challenges before us - Pakistan and China, but the US has emerged as the third big trouble," he added.