Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, made the remarks at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington. She said that under Donald Trump’s leadership, US foreign policy had not backed up America’s interests, but instead, “undone six decades of investments that have made the United States respected and influential.” Shaheen condemned what she described as glaring contradictions: the US imposing tariffs on India for purchases of Russian crude oil while appearing to spare China, despite its own deep dependence on Russian energy.
Tension has escalated after President Trump imposed a 25 per cent reciprocal tariff on all Indian goods, followed by another 25 per cent tariff targeting India’s continued imports of discounted Russian oil, bringing the total extra duty to 50 per cent. India has decried the tariffs as “unfair, unjustified and unreasonable.”
When pressed on whether China should face equivalent tariffs, Shaheen affirmed it should, saying China had threatened in earlier discussions to respond by limiting critical minerals and other goods supplied to the US—goods the US depends on. She argued this kind of leverage has contributed to the US’s unequal treatment of India and China.
Shaheen referenced the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit held in Tianjin, at which Modi, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Chinese President Xi Jinping appeared together. She said that image illustrated India’s growing closeness with Russia and China, and emphasised that US policy needs consistency and predictability.