‘No non-Western leader except…’: Trump draws flak after Navarro calls Russian invasion of Ukraine ‘Modi’s war’

US President Donald Trump has drawn flak from independent observers and Democrats after his trade advisor, Peter Navarro, dubbed the Russian war on Ukraine “Modi’s war” in a reference to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

They pointed out that it is not India that supports the Russian war. They said that the real supporter, and in fact the largest buyer of Russian oil, is China. They further flagged that no non-Western leader has called opposed the publicly as much as Modi.

In an interview with Bloomberg TV, Navarro on Wednesday referred to the Russian war as “Modi’s war”. When the interviewer specifically asked whether it was a slip of tongue, he said that he intentionally said “Modi’s war”.

Previously, Trump has also accused India of funding the Russian war on Ukraine.

Navarro’s remarks came hours after Trump’s additional 25 per cent tariff on India over the purchase of Russian oil kicked in, taking total tariffs on India to 50 per cent. The Indian government has estimated that US tariffs could affect up to 60 per cent of Indian exports to the United States to the tune of $48 billion. Independent analysts have said that tariffs-induced losses could drag down annual GDP growth by up to 1 per cent.

“Peter Navarro has now called Russia’s war in Ukraine ‘Modi’s war’. I don’t think any non-Western leader has expressed public opposition to the war as clearly and frequently as Modi has,” said Kugelman, a Non-resident Senior Fellow at Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, on X.

Separately, the Democrats on the House Foreign Affairs Committee said that it appears that Trump’s tariffs on India are not about the war in Ukraine at all as he has not punished China —that buys more Russian oil than India— at all.

“Instead of imposing sanctions on China or others purchasing larger amounts of Russian oil, Trump’s singling out India with tariffs, hurting Americans and sabotaging the US-India relationship in the process,” said the Democrats.

Instead of imposing sanctions on China or others purchasing larger amounts of Russian oil, Trump’s singling out India with tariffs, hurting Americans & sabotaging the US-India relationship in the process.

It’s almost like it’s not about Ukraine at all.https://t.co/u1pt3iAVC2 pic.twitter.com/lQNAYXTYkC

— House Foreign Affairs Committee Dems (@HouseForeign) August 27, 2025

Separately, Jeff M Smith, the Director of the Asian Studies Center at The Heritage Foundation, a conservative Trump-supporter think tank, dubbed the policy of tariffs on India as “dumb”.

“Yeah, I’m also perplexed. I can’t see the strategic rationale for sanctioning India but not China. Dumb,” said Smith.

“In Moscow, Jaishankar said New Delhi was ‘very perplexed’ by the US position, noting that Washington had not singled out other major buyers of Russian oil such as China.”

Yeah, I’m also perplexed. I can’t see the strategic rationale for sanctioning India but not China. Dumb. https://t.co/tX6mSv3Sjj

— Jeff M. Smith (@Cold_Peace_) August 27, 2025

What did Peter Navarro say?

In his latest anti-India rant, Navarro said that Americans were suffering losses because of India’s actions and the war was progressing, and that American taxpayers were funding the war in Ukraine, because Modi continues to fuel the 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 got to fund Modi’s war,” Navarro told Bloomberg TV.

When asked if it was a slip of tongue and he actually meant “Putin’s war”, Navarro replied, “I mean Modi’s war because the road to peace runs, in part, through New Delhi.”

“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,” Navarro further said.