'This guy is a loose cannon': Ex-US Treasury secretary blasts Navarro for targeting India
Navarro defended the imposition of 50 per cent tariffs on Indian goods-split between 25 per cent for what he called unfair trade practices and 25 per cent for national security concerns tied to India's military and energy dealings with Russia
- Aug 31, 2025,
- Updated Aug 31, 2025 8:29 AM IST
Former U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary Evan A. Feigenbaum has slammed Peter Navarro for his escalating rhetoric against India, describing the White House trade adviser as "a loose cannon" whose statements risk undoing decades of bipartisan progress in U.S.-India relations.
"These guys have tanked 25 years of painstaking and bipartisan work to build productive U.S.-India relations," Feigenbaum said in a post following Navarro's assertion that Prime Minister Narendra Modi bears responsibility for Russia's war in Ukraine. "The road to peace in Ukraine most certainly does not run through New Delhi, and it is quite the deflection to say so."
Navarro, a senior trade adviser in the Trump administration, has led a renewed offensive against India, linking its Russian oil purchases to the ongoing war in Ukraine. In a series of public statements, including an interview and multiple social media posts, Navarro accused India of transforming itself into an "oil money laundromat" for the Kremlin and claimed Indian refiners profit from black-market oil while "Ukrainians die."
Navarro defended the Trump administration's imposition of 50 percent tariffs on Indian goods-split between 25 per cent for what he called unfair trade practices and 25 per cent for national security concerns tied to India's military and energy dealings with Russia.
According to Navarro, India's share of Russian oil imports has risen from under 1 per cent pre-2022 to more than 30 per cent, or over 1.5 million barrels per day. He alleged that Indian refiners are exporting more than 1 million barrels per day in refined products, with profits bolstering Russia’s war chest. "India now exports over 1 million barrels a day in refined petroleum—more than half the volume of Russian crude it imports," he wrote.
Feigenbaum rejected both the tone and substance of Navarro's claims, calling them "deeply ahistorical." He criticised labeling India as a "strategic freeloader" on weapons as gratuitous and misleading. "History, context, and politics haven't been of much interest to whoever is making policy toward India these days," Feigenbaum said. "This stuff is either uncoordinated and unauthorized, which is concerning enough, or else coordinated and authorized—which would make it policy."
He further warned that the relationship may be "on hold at best, but potentially unraveling if someone doesn't put a floor under this fast," and added that it may take a change of administration to bring the partnership “back onto a much more productive track."
India has called the U.S. tariffs unfair and maintains that its oil purchasing decisions are grounded in economic necessity. New Delhi also continues to highlight the absence of equivalent U.S. tariffs on China or the European Union, despite both maintaining extensive energy and trade ties with Russia.
Former U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary Evan A. Feigenbaum has slammed Peter Navarro for his escalating rhetoric against India, describing the White House trade adviser as "a loose cannon" whose statements risk undoing decades of bipartisan progress in U.S.-India relations.
"These guys have tanked 25 years of painstaking and bipartisan work to build productive U.S.-India relations," Feigenbaum said in a post following Navarro's assertion that Prime Minister Narendra Modi bears responsibility for Russia's war in Ukraine. "The road to peace in Ukraine most certainly does not run through New Delhi, and it is quite the deflection to say so."
Navarro, a senior trade adviser in the Trump administration, has led a renewed offensive against India, linking its Russian oil purchases to the ongoing war in Ukraine. In a series of public statements, including an interview and multiple social media posts, Navarro accused India of transforming itself into an "oil money laundromat" for the Kremlin and claimed Indian refiners profit from black-market oil while "Ukrainians die."
Navarro defended the Trump administration's imposition of 50 percent tariffs on Indian goods-split between 25 per cent for what he called unfair trade practices and 25 per cent for national security concerns tied to India's military and energy dealings with Russia.
According to Navarro, India's share of Russian oil imports has risen from under 1 per cent pre-2022 to more than 30 per cent, or over 1.5 million barrels per day. He alleged that Indian refiners are exporting more than 1 million barrels per day in refined products, with profits bolstering Russia’s war chest. "India now exports over 1 million barrels a day in refined petroleum—more than half the volume of Russian crude it imports," he wrote.
Feigenbaum rejected both the tone and substance of Navarro's claims, calling them "deeply ahistorical." He criticised labeling India as a "strategic freeloader" on weapons as gratuitous and misleading. "History, context, and politics haven't been of much interest to whoever is making policy toward India these days," Feigenbaum said. "This stuff is either uncoordinated and unauthorized, which is concerning enough, or else coordinated and authorized—which would make it policy."
He further warned that the relationship may be "on hold at best, but potentially unraveling if someone doesn't put a floor under this fast," and added that it may take a change of administration to bring the partnership “back onto a much more productive track."
India has called the U.S. tariffs unfair and maintains that its oil purchasing decisions are grounded in economic necessity. New Delhi also continues to highlight the absence of equivalent U.S. tariffs on China or the European Union, despite both maintaining extensive energy and trade ties with Russia.