Mini-Post: Trump Is Hopping Around On One Foot Again

Trump has a habit of shooting himself in the foot... by not looking at the consequences of his decisions!

India, Russia vow to deepen trade ties, defying Trump’s tariff threats over oil

Aug 22 2025

By Anniek Bao

CNBC

Key Points

• The two countries reaffirmed their plans to boost bilateral trade, including increasing India’s exports to Russia.
• Other plans include sending Indian workers with skills in IT, construction and engineering to Russia to help address labor shortages.
• The U.S. tariff threats could act as a catalyst for India to further deepen ties with Russia, an analyst said.

India and Russia agreed Thursday to expand bilateral trade ties, signaling that U.S. tariff pressure on New Delhi over Russian oil purchases is unlikely to derail their partnership.

India currently faces additional tariffs of up to 50% on goods shipped to the U.S., after the Trump administration escalated tariff threats in response to its substantial imports of Russian energy.

The India-Russia relations had been among the “steadiest of the major relationships in the world after the Second World War,” Indian foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said at a joint press conference in Moscow.

Both countries vowed to boost bilateral trade, including increasing India’s exports of pharmaceuticals, agriculture and textiles to Russia to help reduce the current imbalance, Jaishankar said.

Our myopic fearless leader just does knee jerk reactions and never thinks about the ramifications!

“Russia has been a close strategic partner of India since the 1970s and the Trump administration’s tariff threats are not going to change that,” said Daniel Balazs, a research fellow at S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies.

“On the contrary, it might even act as a catalyst,” Balazs added, prompting New Delhi to agree to a trilateral meeting that Moscow sought to broker with China.

India just gave the middle finger salute to Trump.