‘Picking a fight with India is a massive miscalculation’: Top business voice warns Trump

Testbed President Kirk Lubimov has criticised US President Donald Trump’s tariff move against India, calling it a major geopolitical blunder that could backfire on US strategic goals in Asia.

“I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again; the biggest problem with Donald Trump’s tariff approach is that it has zero consideration to geopolitical strategy,” Lubimov posted on Sunday. “Trump is now picking a fight with India, one of the fastest growing economies in the world – whose Prime Minister, Modi, is probably the most universally respected and has influence in many key countries.”

Read More

Lubimov warned that India’s role in the global supply chain should be seen in the context of reducing China’s dominance. “The name of the game is to weaken China’s and BRICS dominance and growth, which India is a part of and could be a natural country to move production to from China. America isn’t going to manufacture 50 cent toothbrushes,” he said.

“Instead of using a hammer and nail approach with India it should be an economic cooperation with and bring Canada along that can help satisfy natural resources needs. This is a massive long-term miscalculation,” he added. “Let’s remember that these countries on that part of the world think long term and the 4 year Trump term would be considered a hiccup to them.”

Lubimov’s post comes days after Trump launched a frontal attack on India and Russia, saying, “I don’t care what India does with Russia. They can take their dead economies down together, for all I care.” He also announced a 25% tariff on all goods from India starting August 1, along with a penalty for India’s purchases of Russian crude oil and military hardware.

Trump also described India’s trade policies as “most strenuous and obnoxious,” adding that the US has done “very little business with India” due to high tariffs and trade barriers.

India is currently the second-largest buyer of Russian oil after China, with imports rising from less than 1% pre-Ukraine war to over 35% now. Trump’s penalty makes India the first country to be directly targeted for continuing trade with Russia despite US sanctions.

Additionally, the Trump administration has sanctioned six Indian companies involved in the purchase and sale of Iranian petrochemical products, as part of a broader enforcement action targeting 20 global entities.

In response to Trump’s “dead economy” remark, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal told Parliament that India is “the world’s fastest-growing major economy” and is expected to become the third largest soon. “India is contributing to almost 16 per cent of global growth,” he said, adding that reforms and the resilience of India’s industry had transformed it from being one of the Fragile Five into a global growth engine.