POTUS Donald Trump has imposed 50% tariffs on India, and the spectre of additional tariffs remains because India is a member of BRICS. However, Trump has postponed tariffs on China for another 90 days, having reached a deal with China regarding the Rare Earth Elements (REEs) that he had been desperate for. He accused India of fuelling the Ukraine war, but forgets how much Russian products (oil/gas included) the US, Europe and Ukraine are buying, and how many wars the US has waged, or is fuelling globally, most of which are without the approval of the UNSC, or Congress.
According to former US Supreme Court Judge Andrew Napolitano, Trump’s imposition of tariffs is unconstitutional, without Congress approval; Congress is not doing its job because the military-industrial complex and the Zionist-lobby has a hold on it; America’s over a trillion-dollar defence budget (more than that of the next 10 countries combined) is absurd: the US will never be able to pay off its debts; the move to take over metropolitan police forces will fragment the US; spying (including on Supreme Court) by the NSA (60,000-stong in George W Bush tenure) is unconstitutional. At the same time, it is widely acknowledged that the brunt of the tariffs imposed will have to be borne by US consumers.
The rate at which Trump is firing officials, no one dares point out his neurological instability – for fear of being eliminated. But Trump’s mental condition was assessed as follows by 27 psychiatrists and mental health experts in the book ‘The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump’ published in October 2017: diagnosed as a sociopath who is a danger for the world; an impulsive, immature, incompetent person who when in the position of ultimate power would easily slide into the role of a tyrant; his sociopath characteristics are undeniable; he presents a profound threat to democracy; highly evil man exhibiting malignant narcissism and if left unchecked, his pathological narcissism could lead to WW 3.
Trump has been diagnosed as a sociopath who is a danger to the world; an impulsive, immature, incompetent person who, when in the position of ultimate power, would easily slide into the role of a tyrant; a highly evil man exhibiting malignant narcissism, and if left unchecked, his pathological narcissism could lead to WW3
Trump’s White House trade advisor, Peter Navarro, recently said, “India acts as a global clearinghouse for Russian oil, converting embargoed crude into high-value exports while giving Moscow the dollars it needs.” He wrote that India needs to start acting like a strategic partner of the US if it wants to be treated like one. Naturally, he would not acknowledge that Ukraine, Europe and the US are also buying Russian energy. After Trump’s meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders on August 18, 2025, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that Trump took several actions, including the secondary tariffs on India, to bring the war in Ukraine to an end.
Whether war in Ukraine will end and peace will prevail remains ambiguous because: despite more than 1.7 million Ukrainians killed and missing, Zelenskyy refuses to part with areas under Russian control quoting the Constitution and refuses to hold elections because that would end his dictatorship; America’s deep state would want the war to continue since bulk of the funds sent to Ukraine get recycled back to the US; not only were Western mercenaries deployed in Ukraine since 2014 but the US since then also completely ‘took over’ Ukraine, as admitted by Victoria Nuland; Europe continues to support Ukraine and is ready to send troops to Ukraine because without the Ukraine war, it will be tough to keep both NATO afloat and pay its upkeep bills; Trump is offering air support to Ukraine and Patriot AD missile systems through third countries; both Russia and Ukraine continue to attack each other.
But buying Russian oil appears to be only a cover for Trump to target India. Trump recently issued a strong directive to Silicon Valley giants, Google and Microsoft, to stop hiring foreign nationals, singling out Indians. This is a declaration of an ‘intellectual war’ on Indians who are behind the technological supremacy of the US, not realising that without Indian intellect, American tech companies would lose their identity, technological edge and would cease to exist because Indian minds ‘run’ these companies. Though 1% of the US population, Indians represent over 36% of all high-skilled immigrant entrepreneurs, 72% of all H1, have founded more than 25% of billion-dollar startups, and Indians occupy CEO positions in companies having a combined worth of $2.5 trillion. But all this constitutes intellectual dominance, which has apparently scared an unstable Trump.
Trump’s White House trade advisor, Peter Navarro, recently said, “India acts as a global clearinghouse for Russian oil, converting embargoed crude into high-value exports while giving Moscow the dollars it needs.” He wrote that India needs to start acting like a strategic partner of the US if it wants to be treated like one
Stephen N Miller, White House deputy chief of staff for policy and homeland security advisor, together with Stephen K Bannon who served as the White House’s chief strategist in Trump’s first presidency, are at the forefront of the movement to Make America White (MAW) – the boogey of ‘protecting’ American nationalism, or bluntly put to satisfy the false American ego. In this game of Trump-led nitwits, they cannot gauge the downfall of America by such actions.
While reiterating that Trump brokered the India-Pakistan ceasefire in Operation Sindoor, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has claimed that the US watches the India-Pakistan situation ‘every single day’. But why has Trump embraced Pakistan so closely, even personally hosting Pakistan army chief Asim Munir at the White House (which is unprecedented), and Munir having visited Washington twice already? Why such intimacy with a country that sheltered Osama bin Laden? The Trump Administration had nothing to say when Munir threatened a nuclear strike on India from American soil. Isn’t the CIA-orchestrated regime change in Bangladesh to destabilise India/South Asia? What is this nonsense about counter-terrorism cooperation when Pakistan has gone ahead and launched 15 new terror camps post Operation Sindoor? Is the docking of USS Santa Barbara in Colombo only to keep an eye on India (collecting telemetry data, like missile trajectory, velocity, and warhead performance for assessing India’s BMD and SLBM capabilities), or is there more to it?
Terming BRICS as a ‘little group’ in July this year, Trump accused BRICS of undermining the US dollar and threatened a 10% additional tariff on member nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) if they pursue alternatives to the dollar. But BRICS is not a ‘little’ group; it has expanded rapidly, and more nations are lined up to join the group. Now, BRICS has declared war on the US dollar, and India has informed BRICS of full INR access to member states for trade with India. This would have riled Trump more, although India-China trade continues to be in US dollars.
Trump accused BRICS of undermining the US dollar and threatened a 10% additional tariff on member nations if they pursue alternatives to the dollar. Now, BRICS has declared war on the US dollar, and India has offered full INR access to BRICS members for trade with India. This would have riled Trump more
Peter Navarro says India needs to start acting like a strategic partner of the US if it wants to be treated like one. But hasn’t the Trump Administration chosen Pakistan as its strategic partner over India? Is it because US nukes are stored in Pakistan? The UK signs an FTA with India, but simultaneously, a UK parliamentary committee claims in its report that India is one of the 12 countries, alongside Russia, China and Iran, involved in ‘transnational repression’. Can’t UK’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer (Washington’s pooch) see the ‘transnational’ and ‘national’ repression within the US under Trump?
Finally, there is speculation that Trump may go TACO about US tariffs on India. However, with India-US trade talks held up in the wake of Trump’s tariff terrorism, his focus on penetrating India’s farm sector, and Trump’s declaration of intellectual war against Indians, chances of Trump going TACO look remote. It remains to be seen what actions Trump will take to destabilise India.
The author is an Indian Army veteran. The views expressed are of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Raksha Anirveda
