Donald Trump blasts India-Russia ties, labels economies ‘dead’ amid tariff blow

In a sharply worded post on his social media platform, Truth Social, former U.S. President Donald Trump unleashed a barrage of criticism against India and Russia, calling their economies “dead” and deriding India’s trade practices just a day after announcing sweeping new tariffs on Indian imports.

Trump’s outburst came in the wake of Washington imposing a 25 percent tariff on nearly all imports from India, effective August 1. The former president, widely regarded as a frontrunner in the upcoming U.S. elections, justified the move by blaming India for what he described as “very little business” with the United States and accused New Delhi of maintaining “some of the highest tariffs in the world.”

“I don’t care what India does with Russia. They can take their dead economies down together, for all I care,” Trump wrote. He further slammed Russia, stating, “Russia and the USA do almost no business together. Let’s keep it that way.”

The remarks appeared to be a direct rebuttal to former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who had earlier warned that Trump’s hardline rhetoric risked pushing the world toward a broader conflict. Medvedev had said Trump was playing “the ultimatum game,” and such aggressive posturing could lead not just to regional tension but to a wider war involving the United States.

Trump responded with aggression, "Tell Medvedev, the failed former President of Russia, who thinks he's still President, to watch his words. He's entering very dangerous territory!”