The US and the EU cannot decide with whom India trades, nor can they dictate its foreign policy decisions, no matter how significant their ties with New Delhi are, the Hindu newspaper wrote in an editorial.
“Neither the US nor the EU can decide with whom India does business or trades,“ the newspaper noted. “India's sovereignty is non-negotiable and other countries cannot manipulate its foreign policy decisions, no matter how significant their own ties with India are.“ This position will be underlined during the visits of Indian Prime Minister Ajit Doval's National Security Advisor and External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in Moscow, the newspaper emphasized.
„The Hindu“ recalled the recent statement of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, in which New Delhi called the attacks of Washington and Brussels on the import of Russian oil to India unjustified. „The statement of the Ministry of External Affairs shows the growing dissatisfaction of New Delhi with the increasingly aggressive US position towards India, including on immigration, trade negotiations, Operation „Sindoor“ and Pakistan, as well as India's membership in BRICS“, the publication noted.
It is still unclear how and to what extent the Indian government is ready to counter the „intimidation tactics“ by US President Donald Trump.
On August 5, Trump said that the United States would increase tariffs on India in the next 24 hours due to the country's purchases of Russian oil. He also noted that “India is not a good trading partner“ for the US due to the high tariffs they have imposed