'We're making a big mistake with India': Ex-US Commerce Secretary warns Trump
The U.S. cannot be effective without strong relationships with Europe or much of Southeast Asia, says former Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo
- Oct 27, 2025,
- Updated Oct 27, 2025 8:44 PM IST
Former U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo has warned that Washington is 'making a big mistake with India,' arguing that the current administration's trade posture risks alienating key partners while weakening America's global economic influence. She said the US cannot be effective without strong relationships with Europe or much of Southeast Asia.
"On my list of top 20 things that I would be critical of this administration for is pissing off all of our allies," Raimondo said while speaking at the Harvard Kennedy School's Institute of Politics in a discussion with former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers. "America first is one thing. America alone is a disastrous policy. An America that's not a good friend or partner or ally to Europe, to Japan, is a weak America. I don't think we can be effective without strong relationships with Europe or much of Southeast Asia. And I wish that we would have much stronger commercial relationships with Europe. I think we're making a big mistake with India."
India-U.S. trade tensions have intensified in recent months after Washington imposed 50% tariffs on Indian goods.
She added that the United States has been displaying "hubris" in its approach to allies and warned that the rest of the world will not wait for Washington to return to the table. "What we're doing right now is giving the Heisman to the rest of the world. And if we think they're going to sit around and wait for us to come back, I worry they won't. That's another thing China does well. China is right there every day in Europe, in Africa, in Latin America, in Southeast Asia. And it's such hubris by America to say we're the only ones," Raimondo said.
Raimondo, who served as Commerce Secretary under President Joe Biden, also discussed her disagreements with both Biden and current President Donald Trump on the direction of U.S. industrial and trade policy. "I don't agree with the idea that we should make everything in America. We don't have enough labour, it's not a good at which we have an advantage, and it's not critical to our national security," she said.
She recounted that President Biden "wanted to make everything in America," but she had cautioned him that such a push would raise prices for ordinary consumers. "If we try to make everything in America and we don't have the capacity or the labour, inflation will go through the roof," Raimondo said.
The former secretary also confirmed that both the Biden and Trump administrations have continued using tariffs as a political and economic tool, despite the cost to consumers. "President Biden kept a number of the tariffs out of that instinct, 'I want to be on the side of the American worker.' If you're a politician, it's tough to take a tariff off once it's on—you’re going to be the one that says, ‘I’m not sticking up for the American worker, go ahead, flood the market with cheap imports.’ That’s a tough political decision.”
Discussing China, Raimondo said the U.S. needs a more "nuanced" strategy that avoids escalation. "What I see this administration doing is just making moves with China that are escalatory without even thinking about the next move that China might make," she said. "We have almost $700 billion of trade with China, 99% of which is in commodity goods. We have to manage this relationship and have a long-term view, operate from a position of strength, and get better at nuance."
Former U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo has warned that Washington is 'making a big mistake with India,' arguing that the current administration's trade posture risks alienating key partners while weakening America's global economic influence. She said the US cannot be effective without strong relationships with Europe or much of Southeast Asia.
"On my list of top 20 things that I would be critical of this administration for is pissing off all of our allies," Raimondo said while speaking at the Harvard Kennedy School's Institute of Politics in a discussion with former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers. "America first is one thing. America alone is a disastrous policy. An America that's not a good friend or partner or ally to Europe, to Japan, is a weak America. I don't think we can be effective without strong relationships with Europe or much of Southeast Asia. And I wish that we would have much stronger commercial relationships with Europe. I think we're making a big mistake with India."
India-U.S. trade tensions have intensified in recent months after Washington imposed 50% tariffs on Indian goods.
She added that the United States has been displaying "hubris" in its approach to allies and warned that the rest of the world will not wait for Washington to return to the table. "What we're doing right now is giving the Heisman to the rest of the world. And if we think they're going to sit around and wait for us to come back, I worry they won't. That's another thing China does well. China is right there every day in Europe, in Africa, in Latin America, in Southeast Asia. And it's such hubris by America to say we're the only ones," Raimondo said.
Raimondo, who served as Commerce Secretary under President Joe Biden, also discussed her disagreements with both Biden and current President Donald Trump on the direction of U.S. industrial and trade policy. "I don't agree with the idea that we should make everything in America. We don't have enough labour, it's not a good at which we have an advantage, and it's not critical to our national security," she said.
She recounted that President Biden "wanted to make everything in America," but she had cautioned him that such a push would raise prices for ordinary consumers. "If we try to make everything in America and we don't have the capacity or the labour, inflation will go through the roof," Raimondo said.
The former secretary also confirmed that both the Biden and Trump administrations have continued using tariffs as a political and economic tool, despite the cost to consumers. "President Biden kept a number of the tariffs out of that instinct, 'I want to be on the side of the American worker.' If you're a politician, it's tough to take a tariff off once it's on—you’re going to be the one that says, ‘I’m not sticking up for the American worker, go ahead, flood the market with cheap imports.’ That’s a tough political decision.”
Discussing China, Raimondo said the U.S. needs a more "nuanced" strategy that avoids escalation. "What I see this administration doing is just making moves with China that are escalatory without even thinking about the next move that China might make," she said. "We have almost $700 billion of trade with China, 99% of which is in commodity goods. We have to manage this relationship and have a long-term view, operate from a position of strength, and get better at nuance."