Roving Periscope: Nobel-obsessed, Trump ‘lost India’, says the US Dem lawmaker
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: His obsession for a Nobel Peace Prize, even as he wages war on Venezuela, claimed multiple peace deals, and annoyed millions across the planet in 2025, has made Donald Trump risk becoming a president ‘who lost India,’ the media reported on Thursday.
He risks becoming “the President who lost India”, warned US State Representative Sydney Kamlager-Dove, calling out the Republican leader’s “obsession” for a Nobel Prize.
Her remarks came during a US Congressional hearing on the US-India Strategic Partnership, amid escalating tensions between the world’s two largest democracies over visa fees and tariffs.
During the hearing, Kamlager-Dove, who represents California’s 37th Congressional District in Los Angeles County, said when history is written, analysts will point to “his personal obsession with a Nobel Peace Prize” as the point where antagonism towards India began.
“Trump will be the American president who lost India, or more accurately, who chased India away while revitalising the Russian empire,” she said, referring to the now widely-circulated selfie of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the latter’s recent India visit.
Democrat Kamlager-Dove is a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, where she serves as the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on South and Central Asia. She is also the Whip of the Congressional Black Caucus, Co-Chair of the Congressional Brazil Caucus, and Policy Co-Chair of the Democratic Women’s Caucus.
High tariffs pointless
“Singling out India for 50 percent tariffs, one of the highest rates imposed on any country, has effectively derailed leader-level meetings between our two countries,” she said.
Trump announced 50 percent tariffs on India in August, including a 25 percent “penalty” for importing Russian crude oil.
Kamlager-Dove called the additional 25 percent tariff “pointless,” especially “when Steve Witkoff, the US’ Special Envoy to West Asia, is holding backroom deals with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s advisors to sell out Ukraine in exchange for some business investment.”
The US lawmaker said Trump had also targeted the “people-to-people” ties between the two countries. Citing the USD 100,000 fee on H-1B visas, 70 percent of which are held by Indians, she described it as a rebuke to the immense contributions Indians have made to science, technology, medicine and the arts in the US.
Coercive policies with a cost
She said the Modi-Putin bonhomie reflected the cost of Trump’s coercive approach. “Trump’s policies towards India can only be described as cutting our nose to spite our face… Being a coercive partner has a cost. And this poster is worth a thousand words,” she said.
“You do not get a Nobel Peace Prize by driving US strategic partners into the arms of our adversaries. We must move with incredible urgency to mitigate the damage that this administration has done to the US-India partnership and return to the cooperation that is essential to US prosperity, security and global leadership,” she added.
Earlier this week, Trump hinted at potential fresh duties on Indian rice exports. He accused New Delhi of flooding the US market with cheap shipments that undercut American farmers, speaking at a White House meeting where he also unveiled a USD 12-billion support package for US agricultural producers.
