The Congress MP Said That There Was No Need For Such Language When the Two Nations Were Getting Closer.

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Congress MP Shashi Tharoor reprimanded Peter Navarro, a senior counsellor for trade and manufacturing in the White House, for his recent derogatory remarks about India. While speaking with the national media, the Congress MP condemned the ‘inflammatory language’ and emphasised that it was “unnecessary” given the “strengthening ties between India and the United States”.

What did Navarro Say about India?

Peter Navarro had labelled India as the “maharaja of tariffs” and a “laundromat of Russia”, while also referring to the Ukraine conflict as “Modi’s war”.

"Everybody in America loses because of what India is doing. The consumers and businesses, and everything lose, and workers lose because India's high tariffs cost us jobs, factories, and income, and higher wages. And then the taxpayers lose because we have to fund Modi's war," he was quoted saying.

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When asked if he actually meant "Putin's war" instead, Mr Navarro said: "I mean Modi's war, because the road to peace runs, in part, through New Delhi."

Navarro further added, "What's troubling to me is that the Indians are so arrogant about this. They say, 'Oh, we don't have higher tariffs. Oh, it's our sovereignty. We can buy oil from anyone we want.' India, you're the biggest democracy in the world, okay, act like one."

Additionally, Navarro claimed that “Brahmins are profiteering at the expense of the Indian people.” 

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What Tharoor Said?

\The Member of Parliament from Thiruvananthapuram sharply criticised Navarro’s comments alongside US President Donald Trump’s tariff policies. He noted that the imposition of tariffs by Trump “has definitely created a very strong backlash in India, and the accompanying insults, both by Trump’s own language in his statements and tweets, have exacerbated tensions.”

(Courtesy: X/@ANI)

He further criticised Navarro’s remarks, stating, “Subsequently, the extremely offensive statements by his advisor (Peter) Navarro have gotten a backlash across the country. If there’s no particular problem in a relationship of 30 years, which has been getting toward greater closeness, why would you use this kind of language about India? This was not at all appreciated.”

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Tharoor explained that Trump views tariffs as “magic instruments to address multiple challenges, including reducing the US trade deficit and advancing his political agenda. What went wrong to begin with is that Trump has this idea that tariffs are the magic instruments to solve a number of his problems”.

“He feels that too many things that were manufactured in America are now being imported. He wants to make that more expensive so that the American manufacturer will start doing things more in America and employ American workers, who are his base [the MEGA constituency, as it is called].” Tharoor highlighted that Trump’s strategy is to make imported goods costlier through tariffs, thereby “incentivising domestic production” and appealing to his political supporters.

The controversy started from Donald Trump’s sudden change in trade policies, which included imposing a 25 percent tariff on Indian imports to the US, effective since August 2025. He later announced an additional 25 percent duty as a “penalty” for India’s repeated purchase of Russian oil, further complicating bilateral trade relations.

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