Modi to visit China amid Trump tariff onslaught – govt source
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to travel to China in late August and is expected to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping, a government source in New Delhi has told RT.
The proposed visit to China comes after US President Donald Trump threatened to double tariffs on Indian goods over the country’s purchases of Russian oil. US tariffs of 25% on Indian goods came into effect overnight on Wednesday.
The Indian Express earlier reported, citing sources, that Modi would attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Tianjin from August 31 to September 1, adding that a meeting between the two leaders could take place on the sidelines.
Modi last went to China in 2018, also for the SCO summit. Since then, ties between the two countries have deteriorated, in part due to bloody clashes between Indian and Chinese troops in disputed areas of the Galwan Valley.
The report comes amid heightened tensions between the US and India. Earlier this week, Trump issued an order imposing an additional 25% tariff on goods from India, with the total becoming one of America’s highest import tax brackets. He slammed India for “directly or indirectly importing Russian Federation oil,” adding that Russia’s actions – particularly against Ukraine – pose “an unusual and extraordinary threat” to US national security.
In response, the Indian Foreign Ministry called the new tariffs “unfair, unjustified and unreasonable.” Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded to US threats by stressing that “sovereign states should have, and do have, the right to choose their own trade partners.”
