Top Trump Official Claims India "Rubbing US the Wrong Way" | Vantage with Palki Sharma | N18G

0:00 [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Two things matter in diplomacy, words

0:46 and wisdom. You can't just bulldo your way through the world, especially not this multi-olar world. You need to choose your words carefully. You need wisdom to respond to situations. And both are lacking in Donald Trump's administration. Let me show you the latest example of that. Trump's commerce secretary, basically the US commerce minister, is targeting India. His name is Howard Lutnik. And he says India is rubbing America the wrong way. How? Listen to what he said. There were certain things that the Indian government did that generally rubbed the United States the wrong way. For instance, you generally buy your military gear from Russia. That's a way to kind of get up,

1:34 you know, under the skin of America. If you're going to buy your armaments from Russia, being a part of bricks, y right, which is, oh, let's move to not support the dollar and dollar hegemony. That's not really the way to make friends and influence people in America. So, you know, the president calls that out directly and specifically. So, two main complaints, A that India buys weapons from Russia and B that India is part of bricks. Lutnik claims that these two things will put off Americans. He also says that Trump is calling India out over what exactly? It's not like we are secretly smuggling Russian weapons into India. We are proud of our defense ties with Russia. And

2:21 same with bricks. This is not some diplomatic cabal. The bricks meets in broad daylight for the whole world to see. So what exactly is Trump calling out? Perhaps his own ignorance. Because the US president does not even know who the BRICS members are. Spain is very low. And yet, are they a BRICS nation? They're a BRICS nation. Spain, you know what a BRICS nation is? You'll figure it out. And this sums up the problem. Ignorance combined with arrogance. The US has always had a cold war mentality. you're with us or against against us. That attitude was slowly changing in the

3:08 last decade. We saw successive presidents reach out to India. Donald Trump himself was part of that change. In 2018, India bought Russia's S400 air defense system. That deal could have triggered sanctions on India because the US has a law called Katsa, Countering America's Adversaries through Sanctions Act, Katsa. The law says if you buy weapons from American rivals, you will be sanctioned. But Donald Trump never sanctioned India. Nor did his successor Joe Biden. Yes, they had issues with India's Russian deals, but they understood the context or at least they pretended to understand. In Trump 2.0, that appears to be gone. The president keeps calling India a tariff king. He keeps claiming credit for the

3:54 IndiaPakistan ceasefire. They've had that fight for a thousand years in Kashmir. Kashmir has been going on for a thousand years, probably longer than that. On Saturday, my administration helped broker a full and immediate ceasefire. Just days ago, my administration successfully brokered a historic ceasefire to stop the escalating violence between India and Pakistan. I don't want to say I did, but I sure as hell helped settle the problem between Pakistan and India last week. He keeps saying it at every opportunity. And his officials say that India is rubbing America the wrong way. What do you think is the issue here? Well, the team itself is a problem. Trump's

4:40 team. Consider Secretary Howard Lutnik. All his life he's worked on Wall Street, but in 2024, he was parachuted into the Trump campaign. No political experience, no foreign policy chops. Then you have Vice President JD Vans. Again, very little political experience. Even less so on foreign policy. Remember what happened during Operation Synindur. JD Van said it was none of his business. He said the US would not try to get involved, but days later he was frantically calling Indian officials. Then you have Tulsi Gabbad, the director of national intelligence. After the pelgam attack, she supported India. But after operation Synindhur, radio silence, not a single comment on India or Pakistan. In fact, some experts say that

5:27 she has been sidelined. Then there's T. Witkov, envoy for anything under the sun. He has no foreign policy experience. He was Trump's golf buddy before taking this role. Plus, he has takes in Pakistan. Wito and his sons co-own a crypto company. The same company signed a deal with Pakistan this year. Frankly, the only diplomat in the room is Marco Rubio. Until recently, you also had national security adviser Mike Waltz, but he resigned after the signal chat row. So, the seasoned diplomats are all gone. Those who remain are inexperienced yesmen. And it shows Trump still hasn't named an ambassador to India. In the meantime, his officials are targeting New Delhi.

6:13 Like I said, the team is a problem because this relationship is nuanced. It's not a treaty relationship. It's not a military alliance. It's a mutually beneficial partnership. It is based on mutual respect and interests. You need wisdom to understand that. Just look at the aftermath of operation sindur. We used brahos missiles to hit Pakistan. We use Russian fighter jets to fire missiles. We also use Russian S400s to protect our skies. But our enemy was using American F-16s. Yet Donald Trump's officials say India is rubbing them the wrong way. If anything, it's the other way round. Trump himself is cozying up to to Putin. He says he wants to sign a

6:58 minerals deal with Russia, but he wants India to diversify and to move away from Russia. This is classic hypocrisy and it's also dangerous. India and the US have taken decades to build trust. Leaders including Trump have invested in this relationship. It wasn't always organic or natural. It was shaped by the political will of leaders. Trump 1.0 displayed that will. Trump 2.0 has not. I know the US president likes taking the chainsaw to political issues, but I'm afraid that won't work with India. If he isn't careful, he could undo decades of hard work. [Music]