Up to date on: Aug 21, 2025 08:42 am IST
Nikki Haley warned the Trump administration’s relations with India are at a crucial level, stressing the necessity to strengthen ties to counter China.
Former US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley has warned that the Donald Trump administration’s ties with India are at a “troubling inflexion level”, cautioning towards permitting commerce tensions to derail a partnership crucial to countering China.
In an opinion piece together with Invoice Drexel, a fellow on the Hudson Institute, for Newsweek, Nikki Haley wrote that strengthening relations with India is significant to America’s Asia technique, warning that “scuttling 25 years of momentum with the one nation that may function a counterweight to Chinese language dominance in Asia can be a “strategic catastrophe”.
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US President Donald Trump on August 6 signed an government order imposing a further 25 per cent tariff on imports from India, in response to India “straight or not directly” importing oil from Russia. That is over and above the 25 per cent tariff on Indian imports that Trump permitted on July 31.
Additionally Learn | Very proud of China tariffs: Trump official who slammed India over Russian oil
What Nikki Haley wrote: 5 key takeaways
- Tariff tensions: Nikki Haley criticised the Trump administration’s 25 per cent tariff menace on Indian items and Russian oil imports, calling it counterproductive. “Trump is correct to focus on India’s large Russian oil purchases,” she famous, however warned that treating India like an adversary as an alternative of a companion can be “an enormous—and preventable—mistake.”
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- India versus China: Haley argued that India should not be bracketed with Beijing. “India should be handled just like the prized free and democratic companion that it’s—not an adversary like China,” Haley wrote, mentioning that China has escaped related sanctions regardless of being a high purchaser of Russian oil.
- Strategic significance: On provide chains, Haley pressured on India’s scale and potential: “India stands alone in its potential to fabricate at China-like scale for merchandise that may’t be rapidly or effectively produced right here, like textiles, cheap telephones, and photo voltaic panels.”
- Defence and safety ties: The previous US envoy to the United Nations underlined India’s rising function in world safety, saying its increasing defence cooperation with the US and allies makes it “a vital asset to the free world’s safety”.
- Recommendation to India: She suggested India to take US President Donald Trump’s level on Russian oil critically and work with the White Home to discover a resolution. She urged Donald Trump to “reverse the downward spiral” and maintain direct talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “The earlier the higher,” she mentioned. “The administration ought to give attention to mending the rift with India and giving the connection extra high-level consideration and resources–approaching what the US devotes to China or Israel,” she added.
