Key Points

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Navarro said the US wants to impose tariffs on China without hurting its own economy.

"As the boss says, let's see what happens. Keep in mind that we have over 50 per cent tariffs on China already. We have over 50 per cent tariffs on China, so we don't want to get to a point where we actually hurt ourselves. And I think I've given a really good answer to that," Navarro said, as per C-SPAN.

He explained that India was targeted with 50 per cent tariffs because of its refusal to stop buying Russian oil, which the US claims is helping fund the conflict in Ukraine.

"Let's talk first about the India tariffs, which went up to 50 per cent today. It's important to understand that the rationale for the Indian tariffs are very different from the reciprocal tariffs. This was a pure national security issue associated with India's abject refusal to stop buying Russian oil," Navarro said.

He also criticised India's trade practices, calling it the "maharaja of tariffs" for maintaining some of the highest tariffs and non-tariff barriers on American goods.

"You start with the fact that India is the maharaja of tariffs. It's the highest tariffs in the world, charging on American products, and it's got high non-tariff barriers, so we can't get our products in. So we send a lot of dollars overseas to India to buy their products in an unfair trade environment," he said.

Navarro claimed that the money spent by the US on Indian goods is ultimately used by India to buy Russian oil, which in turn finances Russia's military operations.

"India then uses American dollars to buy Russian oil. Russia then uses those American dollars that come from India to finance its armaments to kill Ukrainians. And then American taxpayers are then called upon to pay for the weapons that have to defend Ukraine against Russian armaments paid for by American dollars that came from India," he added.

He said President Donald Trump had drawn a clear line between economic and national security.

"That's got to stop. That math doesn't work. The president understands the connection between economic security and national security. So that was the bottom line there," Navarro said.

Meanwhile, former US National Security Adviser (NSA) John Bolton warned that Trump's tariff policy could have the opposite effect of what it intends--by pushing India closer to Russia and China.

Speaking to CNN, Bolton said, "That shows exactly what I think could be the worst outcome for the United States, that India has reacted very negatively, as you might expect, to these tariffs related to Russian oil purchases, in part because they see that China has not been tariffed. And Trump seems to be, in the minds of many China experts, setting up to treat China more leniently than he's treated India, thus putting in jeopardy decades of American effort to bring India away from Russia, to bring India away from China, to join us in trying to push back on Chinese efforts to gain hegemony along its long Indo-Pacific perimeter."

He added, "And the irony here is that while the secondary tariffs against India are intended to hurt Russia, it could push India back closer to Russia and closer to China, perhaps negotiating together against the US tariff efforts."

- ANI