Trump threw away ties with India for family business with Pak, says former US NSA Jake Sullivan

WASHINGTON, DC: Former US National Security Advisor (NSA) Jake Sullivan alleged that US President Donald Trump has “thrown away” ties with India over Pakistan’s willingness to do business with Trump’s family.

In an interview with MeidasTouch Network’s YouTube channel, Sullivan highlighted the importance of India-US relationship, and stressed Trump’s move hampers US’ allies trust on Washington.

“US has worked to build a relationship with India, a country that we should be aligned with on technology, talent, economics and so many issues. And align with dealing with strategic threats from China. Now. I think because of Pakistan’s willingness to do business with the Trump’s family, Trump has thrown away India relationship on side. Germany or Japan will look at that (India) and say that could be us tomorrow. America’s friends will think that they can’t rely on us in any way.” Jake Sullivan told MeidasTouch.

Sullivan remarks come amid the rising friction between Washington and New Delhi due to the 50 per cent tariffs imposed on Indian goods, which include a 25 per cent penalty for buying Russian oil.

Earlier, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent expressed confidence that India and the US will resolve trade friction between them, as he believed that New Delhi’s values are much closer to Washington than to China and Russia.

In an interview with Fox Business, Scott Bessent, however, downplayed the significance of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit, calling it “largely performative.”

“This is a longstanding meeting, it’s called the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and I think it’s largely performative,” Bessent said. “I think at the end of the day; India is the most populous democracy in the world. Their values are much closer to ours and to China’s than to Russia’s.”

“I think at the end of the day; two great countries will get this solved. But the Indians have not been great actors in terms of buying Russian oil and then reselling it, financing the Russian war effort in Ukraine,” he told Fox Business.

On the other hand, White House trade adviser Peter Navarro attacked India, targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi for meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Speaking with reporters, Navarro lambasted PM Modi for what he termed “getting in bed with the authoritarian”, describing the meeting as shameful.

“It was a shame to see Modi getting in bed as a leader of the biggest democracy in the world with the two biggest authoritarian dictators in the world – Putin and Xi Jinping. That doesn’t make any sense. I am not sure what he’s thinking. “We hope he comes around to seeing that he needs to be with us, Europe and Ukraine, not Russia,” Peter Navarro said.

PM Modi, in his address at SCO, stressed the need to boost connectivity between the members to boost trade.”India has always believed that strong connectivity not only boosts trade but also opens doors to growth and trust,” PM Modi said. (ANI)