Trump’s 50% tariff is economic blackmail: Rahul Gandhi

Launching a tirade against Prime Minister Narendra Modi over U.S. President Donald Trump imposing a 50% tariff on Indian exports, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, on Thursday, termed the move as an “economic blackmail” which is the result of “Mr. Modi prioritising headline management over real diplomacy and national interest.”

In a social media post on the eve of the visit of Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, to the State to lead the protest against “vote theft”, Mr. Siddaramaiah said, “I fully agree with Mr. Rahul Gandhi. Be it GST, demonetisation, Chinese aggression, the ‘Modani’ nexus, or COVID-19 failures, farm laws, Rafale, PM CARES, and electoral bonds — Mr. Rahul Gandhi called them out early. The BJP mocked him. But he was proven right again and again. His warning on US President Donald Trump’s 50% tariff is no different.”

The Chief Minister argued that since 2019, Mr. Modi had “gone out of his way to please Trump”, but Trump was not impressed. “He saw it not as diplomacy — but surrender,” Mr. Siddaramaiah maintained.