Washington, June 25 (IANS) Senior Democratic Senator Mark Warner said on Thursday that US President Donald Trump’s tariff policies have set back the India-US relationship, saying that recent trade measures disrupted growing economic ties between the two countries despite their expanding strategic partnership.

Warner described India as one of America’s most important geopolitical partners and said successive US administrations had worked to deepen bilateral ties.

“One of the things that every administration since President Bush has tried to do is try to align and become a better partner with India,” Warner told IANS in response to a question.

“I’m very proud of the fact that I’m the co-chair of the India Caucus in the Senate. I think the relationship with India is one of the most geopolitically important relationships for America.”

The Virginia Senator said strategic cooperation had expanded through the Quad, the grouping of Australia, India, Japan and the United States.

“I’m glad to see that things like the Quad that has India, Japan, Australia, America, to work together on defence, we’d made this great progress,” he added.

Responding to a question on the proposed India-US trade agreement, Warner said the bilateral relationship had been affected by Trump’s tariff decisions.

“Remember a year or so ago when President Trump slapped the highest tariff of a 50 per cent tariff on India when he didn’t slap that similar tariff on China, who was also buying Russian oil,” he added.

“So I think all of that progress has been set back because of the arbitrary nature of Trump’s tariffs on India.”

He said he was encouraged by signs that the relationship was improving but said it remained unclear whether progress had been made during the recent meeting between Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the G7 Summit.

“Things seem to be getting a bit better. I still don’t have a readout of when at the G7 meeting, when President Trump and Prime Minister Modi met privately, whether progress was made,” Warner added.

Warner said restoring trade momentum should remain a priority for both countries.

“We were seeing accelerated trade between our two countries dramatically rise. It took a big dip over the last year and we’ve gotta get it back on track. Again for both trading purposes, for bringing our countries closer together, for national security means,” he added.

The Senator also highlighted India’s growing importance in emerging technologies and credited the Indian-American community with strengthening bilateral ties.

“India is a great power in terms of the bio space. It is increasingly gonna be a major power in AI,” Warner said.

“One of the greatest assets we have for this relationship is the Indian diaspora in America, which is so incredibly successful and important on helping build these ties.”

He added that recent trade tensions reflected what he described as the administration’s broader approach towards New Delhi.

“In many ways, the bump in terms of our trade relations was caused because of what clearly appears to be a Trump effort to sometimes favour some of India’s neighbours more than India,” Warner said.

–IANS

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