geopolitics 🇺🇸🇷🇺 India–Russia Summit Sparks Alarm in Washington: Lawmakers Blame Trump’s Tariffs for Strained US Ties
Warm Modi-Putin Photo Op Prompts Congressional Critique; Former Pentagon Official Alleges Trump ‘Shredded’ Decades of US Strategic Gains
Modi-Putin Summit Sends Clear Signal to the West
The high-profile annual summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin in New Delhi on December 5, 2025, has drawn immediate and sharp criticism from U.S. political and foreign policy circles. The meeting, which featured warm personal exchanges, including a widely shared photo of the leaders in a private car, reaffirmed the deep-rooted India-Russia strategic partnership despite intense pressure from the West over Russia’s actions in Ukraine. Both leaders formalized a sweeping economic cooperation program until 2030 and emphasized strong defence and energy ties.
The optics of the meeting—the red carpet treatment for Putin and Modi’s public declaration of Russia as a “guiding star”—were clearly intended to signal India’s commitment to strategic autonomy and its refusal to be pressured into abandoning Moscow. However, in Washington, the visual display and substantive agreements were seen as an affirmation of a damaging trend in the Indo-US partnership.
Trump Accused of Undermining Strategic Alliance
The most potent critique came not from the current Democratic opposition but from within the Republican foreign policy establishment. Former Pentagon official Michael Rubin explicitly stated that President Donald Trump’s policies deserve blame for the strengthening Moscow-New Delhi axis. Rubin, a Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, sarcastically suggested that Trump “deserves a Nobel Prize for bringing India and Russia together the way he did,” arguing that the punitive actions taken by the administration motivated India’s renewed embrace of Russia.
This assessment was echoed by former National Security Advisor John Bolton, who warned that Trump’s “disastrous tariff policy” has “set US-India relations back decades,” claiming the 50% tariffs imposed on Indian imports (in part for purchasing Russian oil) have actively pushed PM Modi closer to Russia and China. This sentiment was independently confirmed by key Democrat Rep. Gregory Meeks, a ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, who expressed “alarm at Trump’s arbitrary tariffs that threaten this vital relationship” and stressed Congress’s ongoing support for the bilateral partnership.
Indian Sovereignty vs. Western Pressure
The consensus among Washington analysts is that New Delhi’s decisive move to host Putin confirms that the Indian leadership is unwilling to compromise its foreign policy choices due to American pressure. Russia’s reliability as an energy and defence supplier remains paramount for India’s national security interests.
The criticism in the US Congress reflects a growing anxiety that the transactional and protectionist trade policies championed by the Trump administration have “shredded” decades of bipartisan effort aimed at fostering a closer strategic alignment between the world’s two largest democracies to counter China’s growing power. The current debate now centers on how the US government can mitigate the damage done and restore the foundational trust required to sustain the critical Indo-Pacific partnership.