WASHINGTON, June 19 (IANS) — A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi met US President Donald Trump in France, a powerful US senator said the United States should be strengthening, not weakening, its partnership with India. The senator argued that punitive tariffs had sent the wrong signal to a key strategic partner.
"Well, I've not gotten a readout of the meeting," Senator Mark Warner told IANS in response to a question on the meeting between PM Modi and President Trump.
The Virginia Democrat said India-US ties remain critically important. He stressed the need for Washington to continue investing in the relationship.
"I'm proud to be the co-chair of the India Caucus in the Senate," Warner said. "I think ties between India and America are extraordinarily important, he added.
Warner argued that successive US administrations had spent years encouraging India to deepen cooperation with Washington and reduce its dependence on Russia.
"For the last 25 years, we have tried to move India away from reliance on Russia and move more as a fellow democracy into alliance with us," he said.
The senator pointed to initiatives such as the Quad. The initiative brings together India, the United States, Japan and Australia. He described these efforts as part of broader moves to strengthen cooperation among major democracies in the Indo-Pacific region.
Warner expressed particular concern regarding President Trump's decision last year to sharply increase tariffs on Indian goods.
"So it was beyond baffling to me that, earlier or last year that for a while President Trump arbitrarily raised tariffs on India to some of the highest in the world," Warner said.
The top Democratic Senator felt such measures risked undermining broader US strategic objectives in Asia. He noted these efforts occur at a time when Washington has been seeking to counter China's growing influence and reduce India's historical dependence on Moscow.