Ex-Treasury official warns Trump: 'India won't quit BRICS under pressure, so this sets the bar at failure'

Former US Treasury official Evan A Feigenbaum has hit out at President Donald Trump's tariff and sanctions strategy toward India, calling it a failure from the outset. "India isn't going to withdraw from BRICS under coercive pressure from Washington, so this sets the bar at failure," Feigenbaum wrote in a post reacting to Trump's announcement of a 25% tariff on Indian imports and a penalty over India's trade with Russia.

Feigenbaum, a key figure in shaping US-India economic ties in the 2000s, warned that the damage from Trump's approach may be long-lasting. "Even if they negotiate a ceasefire or a 'deal,' the damage is now done with the Indian public and the Indian body politic. Blunt coercion not useful."

The latest US move comes amid rising friction over India's growing oil imports from Russia — now accounting for 35–40% of New Delhi's crude basket — and its active role in the BRICS grouping. India is the first country to be penalised for buying Russian crude and military goods. 

Hours after the tariff announcement, Trump said: "India does not do very much business in terms of business with US. They (India) have one of the highest tariffs in the world now…BRICS is basically a group of countries that are anti the United States and India is a member of that. It is an attack on the dollar and we are not going to let anybody attack the dollar."

Feigenbaum, however, called the approach damaging to decades of bipartisan diplomatic effort. "I expect there will eventually be a deal (between India and US) that lowers the tariffs. It’s Trump’s way. But what is lost in the bargain is trust and that took 25 years of painstaking, hard, bipartisan work and a huge lift by advocates in both countries. Hard to build, easy to lose."

He added: "Lobbing hourly nasty-grams at India seems to be a thing for him at this point... as if this is going to yield some kind of tactical result at an acceptable strategic cost. It won't." “For those of us who worked hard to build US-India ties, this is just gobsmacking, at this point."

Feigenbaum’s criticism came as the Trump administration escalated its pressure on India further, sanctioning six Indian companies for trading in Iranian-origin petrochemical products. The US State Department named firms such as Kanchan Polymers, Alchemical Solutions, Jupiter Dye Chem, and others, citing transactions worth over $220 million.

“Any country or person who chooses to purchase Iranian oil or petrochemicals exposes themselves to the risk of U.S. sanctions,” the US State Department warned.

The Indian companies now face asset freezes under US jurisdiction, while several Indian nationals have also been linked to a global shipping network accused of transporting Iranian petroleum — a network that includes over 50 vessels and dozens of shell entities, according to the US Treasury Department.

Feigenbaum’s remarks reflect deep concern in sections of the US strategic community over what they see as an unraveling of a hard-won relationship.
“This guy is going to tank 25 years of bipartisan effort to transform U.S.-India relations,” he wrote.

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