Daijiworld Media Network - Washington

Washington, Aug 12: White House trade adviser Peter Navarro has hit back at criticism from India over his repeated remarks on New Delhi's trade policies and purchases of Russian oil, urging his critics to stop making what he described as “nasty little attacks”.

“I actually got firebombed by the Indian continent on the internet with all sorts of nasty little attacks. And all I would say is, don't do that. That's not how we resolve problems here in America,” Navarro told reporters at the White House on Tuesday.

Navarro, who advises US President Donald Trump on trade and manufacturing, has repeatedly criticised India's purchase of Russian oil and its trade policies. He has also described India as the “Maharaja of tariffs” while defending US retaliatory tariffs linked to its Russian oil purchases.

Defending his position, Navarro said India had not been involved in the Russian oil trade to the same extent before Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

“Prior to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, India was not involved in the oil trade with Russia, but afterwards it got heavily involved and was selling a lot of refined products on behalf of Russia, which helped feed the war machine,” he said.

Navarro claimed the issue had now been resolved and suggested that his own criticism had contributed to a reduction in India's Russian oil purchases.

“Maybe, I had a little bit to do with that with that op-ed,” he said, referring to an opinion article he wrote for the Financial Times.

In the article, Navarro described India's purchases of Russian oil as “opportunistic” and “corrosive” to international efforts to isolate the Russian economy. He accused India of helping finance Russia's war in Ukraine while maintaining high tariffs and trade barriers against American exports.

Navarro later intensified his criticism, describing India as a “laundromat for the Kremlin” and referring to the Russia-Ukraine conflict as “Modi's war”. He has argued that revenue from Russian oil sales helps fund Moscow's military operations in Ukraine.

India has rejected Navarro's allegations in the past.

In September last year, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal dismissed Navarro's comments on India's Russian oil purchases as “inaccurate and misleading”.

“We have seen the inaccurate and misleading statements made by Mr Navarro and obviously reject them,” Jaiswal had said.