Goose Pod LogoGoose Pod
How Donald Trump’s tariff bomb is pushing India closer to China

How Donald Trump’s tariff bomb is pushing India closer to China

2025-08-27Donald Trump
Summary

Report Provider: Hindustan Times

Author: Aniruddha Dhar

This news report details how US President Donald Trump's threat of a 50% tariff on Indian goods is significantly altering the geopolitical landscape, pushing India closer to BRICS nations, particularly China. This development marks a notable shift in bilateral ties between India and China, which had reached a low point in 2020 following the Galwan Valley clash.

In 30 seconds

  • Report Provider: Hindustan Times
  • Author: Aniruddha Dhar
  • This news report details how US President Donald Trump's threat of a 50% tariff on Indian goods is significantly altering the...
Read source
Published
8/13/2025
Language
Sources
1 cited
Listen
5 min listen
Published
8/13/2025
Language
Sources
1 cited
Listen
5 min listen

Quick brief

The fastest way to understand what changed, why it matters, and what to listen for in the episode.

  • Report Provider: Hindustan Times
  • Author: Aniruddha Dhar
  • This news report details how US President Donald Trump's threat of a 50% tariff on Indian goods is significantly altering the...
  • Key Findings and Conclusions:

Why this summary is trustworthy

Goose Pod anchors each episode to cited reporting so listeners can verify the source material before or after they press play.

Articles reviewed
1
Distinct sources
1
Latest cited update
8/13/2025
Topic path
Donald Trump

Listen to the episode

Start with the audio, then open the transcript only when you want the line-by-line version.

--:--
--:--

What happened

Report Provider: Hindustan Times

Author: Aniruddha Dhar

This news report details how US President Donald Trump's threat of a 50% tariff on Indian goods is significantly altering the geopolitical landscape, pushing India closer to BRICS nations, particularly China. This development marks a notable shift in bilateral ties between India and China, which had reached a low...

US President Donald Trump’s threat of a 50 per cent tariff on Indian goods is pushing Prime Minister Narendra Modi closer to BRICS nations, espcially China. This marks a significant shift in bilateral ties between India and China that saw their lowest point in 2020 following the Galwan Valley clash.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Amid the India-US tariff tensions, PM Narendra Modi’s latest move is to resume direct flights with China as soon as next month, people familiar with the negotiations, who asked for anonymity to discuss private matters, told news agency Bloomberg.

Also Follow | India tariff news live updates The deal could be formally announced when Modi is expected to head to China for the first time in seven years and meet President Xi Jinping at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation held in Tianjin from August 31, the report added. India, China to resume direct flightsAirlines in India have been asked by the government to prepare flights to China at short notice.

Passenger flights between India to China were suspended after the Covid-19 pandemic, forcing travelers from the two neighbouring countries to pass through hubs like through Hong Kong or Singapore. India had suspended direct flights during the pandemic, which coincided with the Galwan Valley clash in east Ladakh that killed 20 Indian soldiers and an unknown number of Chinese troops.

What experts saidHenry Wang, president of the Center for China and Globalization think tank in Beijing, told the news agency that ties between India and China are in an “up cycle", and as leaders of the Global South, “they have to really speak to each other". “Trump’s tariff war on India has made India realise that they have to maintain some kind of strategic autonomy and strategic independence,” he added.

Washington DC has long courted New Delhi as a counterbalance to Beijing in geopolitics but with Donald Trump’s trade wars, China and India are finding common ground. Xu Feihong, China’s ambassador to India, has offered Modi moral support over the tariffs. “Give the bully an inch, he will take a mile,” Xu wrote last week on X over a quote from Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi denouncing the use of tariffs “as a weapon to suppress other countries.

” Also Read | 'Donald Trump's tariffs could push India closer to…': Ex-US NSA John Bolton's 'enormous mistake' warning Former US National Security Advisor John Bolton has warned that Donald Trump’s tariff measures against India, intended to hurt Russia, could end up having the opposite effect by pushing New Delhi closer to Moscow and Beijing.

"Trump's tariffs against India are intended to hurt Russia but they could push India closer to Russia and to China to oppose these tariffs," John Bolton told CNN in an interview. The former NSA further cautioned, “Trump’s leniency on the Chinese, and heavy-handed tariffs on India, jeopardise decades of American efforts to bring India away from Russia and China.

” Also Read | Trump's 50% tariff on IndiaModi’s economic calculus was fundamentally altered this month when Trump doubled tariffs on Indian goods to 50 per cent as a penalty for its purchases of Russian oil. Donald Trump's remarks that India’s economy was “dead” and its tariff barriers “obnoxious” further strained relations.

China shows thaw signsChina, also a prime target in Trump’s trade wars, has shown signs it’s ready for a thaw. This month, it eased curbs on urea shipments to India — the world’s largest importer of the fertilizer. Although initial volumes are small, the trade could expand, easing global shortages and prices.

China relaxed the ban in June but had maintained restrictions on India until now. Adani Group's investmentsThe Adani Group is reportedly in talks with Chinese electric vehicle major BYD Co. for a potential partnership that could enable billionaire Gautam Adani’s conglomerate to produce batteries in India, further expanding its clean energy footprint.

(With inputs from agencies)

Hindustan Times8/13/2025
Read original at Hindustan Times

Source coverage

Report Provider: Hindustan Times

Author: Aniruddha Dhar

Deeper analysis

Full source content

US President Donald Trump’s threat of a 50 per cent tariff on Indian goods is pushing Prime Minister Narendra Modi closer to BRICS nations, espcially China. This marks a significant shift in bilateral ties between India and China that saw their lowest point in 2020 following the Galwan Valley clash.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Amid the India-US tariff tensions, PM Narendra Modi’s latest move is to resume direct flights with China as soon as next month, people familiar with the negotiations, who asked for anonymity to discuss private matters, told news agency Bloomberg.

Also Follow | India tariff news live updates The deal could be formally announced when Modi is expected to head to China for the first time in seven years and meet President Xi Jinping at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation held in Tianjin from August 31, the report added. India, China to resume direct flightsAirlines in India have been asked by the government to prepare flights to China at short notice.

Passenger flights between India to China were suspended after the Covid-19 pandemic, forcing travelers from the two neighbouring countries to pass through hubs like through Hong Kong or Singapore. India had suspended direct flights during the pandemic, which coincided with the Galwan Valley clash in east Ladakh that killed 20 Indian soldiers and an unknown number of Chinese troops.

What experts saidHenry Wang, president of the Center for China and Globalization think tank in Beijing, told the news agency that ties between India and China are in an “up cycle", and as leaders of the Global South, “they have to really speak to each other". “Trump’s tariff war on India has made India realise that they have to maintain some kind of strategic autonomy and strategic independence,” he added.

Washington DC has long courted New Delhi as a counterbalance to Beijing in geopolitics but with Donald Trump’s trade wars, China and India are finding common ground. Xu Feihong, China’s ambassador to India, has offered Modi moral support over the tariffs. “Give the bully an inch, he will take a mile,” Xu wrote last week on X over a quote from Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi denouncing the use of tariffs “as a weapon to suppress other countries.

” Also Read | 'Donald Trump's tariffs could push India closer to…': Ex-US NSA John Bolton's 'enormous mistake' warning Former US National Security Advisor John Bolton has warned that Donald Trump’s tariff measures against India, intended to hurt Russia, could end up having the opposite effect by pushing New Delhi closer to Moscow and Beijing.

"Trump's tariffs against India are intended to hurt Russia but they could push India closer to Russia and to China to oppose these tariffs," John Bolton told CNN in an interview. The former NSA further cautioned, “Trump’s leniency on the Chinese, and heavy-handed tariffs on India, jeopardise decades of American efforts to bring India away from Russia and China.

” Also Read | Trump's 50% tariff on IndiaModi’s economic calculus was fundamentally altered this month when Trump doubled tariffs on Indian goods to 50 per cent as a penalty for its purchases of Russian oil. Donald Trump's remarks that India’s economy was “dead” and its tariff barriers “obnoxious” further strained relations.

China shows thaw signsChina, also a prime target in Trump’s trade wars, has shown signs it’s ready for a thaw. This month, it eased curbs on urea shipments to India — the world’s largest importer of the fertilizer. Although initial volumes are small, the trade could expand, easing global shortages and prices.

China relaxed the ban in June but had maintained restrictions on India until now. Adani Group's investmentsThe Adani Group is reportedly in talks with Chinese electric vehicle major BYD Co. for a potential partnership that could enable billionaire Gautam Adani’s conglomerate to produce batteries in India, further expanding its clean energy footprint.

(With inputs from agencies)

How this page is built

Goose Pod turns cited reporting into a public episode summary first, then pairs that summary with audio playback so listeners can check the source material before they decide how deeply to engage.

The goal is to make this page useful as a news landing page first, while still giving listeners transcript access, related episodes, and direct links back to the original publishers.

Cited sources

More on this topic

About this page

Goose Pod turns cited reporting into a public episode summary first, then pairs that summary with audio playback so listeners can compare the recap with the underlying source material.

This page reviewed 1 article across 1 source, with the latest cited update on 8/13/2025.

Explore related pages