NEW DELHI: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday said US President Donald Trump’s decision to impose 50 per cent tariff on Indian goods was a foreign policy disaster, and claimed the Modi government is clueless on how to deal with it.A day after Trump imposed a penalty of another 25 percent on India for buying Russian oil, Kharge said the decision comes at a time when our diplomacy is “disastrously dithering”.He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi “failed” to negotiate a trade deal with the United States despite several months of negotiations and now Trump is “intimidating and coercing us”.In a post on X, the Congress chief said India’s national interest is supreme.He said any nation that arbitrarily penalises India for “our time-tested policy of strategic autonomy, which is embedded in the ideology of Non-alignment, doesn’t understand the steel frame India is made of”.”From the threats of the 7th fleet to the sanctions of Nuclear tests, we have navigated our relationship with the US with self-respect and dignity. Trump’s 50% Tariffs comes at a time when our own diplomacy is disastrously dithering,” he claimed.”Narendra Modi ji, You kept mum when Trump claimed that he brokered the ceasefire. He has claimed at least 30 times and counting. On November 30, 2024, Trump had threatened to impose a 100% tariff on BRICS nations. PM Modi was sitting there, visibly smirking, while Trump declared ‘BRICS dead’,” Kharge alleged.
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