Senior Democratic Senator Mark Warner said on Thursday, 25 June that US President Donald Trump's tariff policies have set back the India-US relationship, warning that recent trade measures have disrupted the growing economic partnership between the two countries despite their deepening strategic alignment.

Warner's Core Concern

Warner, who serves as co-chair of the India Caucus in the US Senate, described India as one of America's most consequential geopolitical partners. He noted that successive administrations had worked to strengthen bilateral ties — a trajectory he believes Trump's tariff decisions have reversed.

'One of the things that every administration since President Bush has tried to do is try to align and become a better partner with India,' Warner said in response to a question. He added: 'I think the relationship with India is one of the most geopolitically important relationships for America.'

The Tariff That Stung

The Virginia Senator pointed specifically to a 50 per cent tariff that the Trump administration imposed on India — a rate he noted was higher than what was applied to China, even as Beijing continued purchasing Russian oil. 'So I think all of that progress has been set back because of the arbitrary nature of Trump's tariffs on India,' Warner said.

He also suggested the tariff decisions reflected what he characterised as a broader Trump administration tendency to 'sometimes favour some of India's neighbours more than India' — a pointed reference that stops short of naming specific countries.

Quad Progress and Strategic Gains

Despite his criticism of trade policy, Warner acknowledged meaningful progress on the strategic front, citing the Quad — the grouping of Australia, India, Japan, and the United States — as a tangible example of deepened defence cooperation. 'I'm glad to see that things like the Quad... to work together on defence, we'd made this great progress,' he said.

Modi-Trump G7 Meeting: No Readout Yet

Warner said he was encouraged by signs that the India-US relationship was recovering but flagged uncertainty over the outcome of the recent bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Trump on the sidelines of the G7 Summit. 'Things seem to be getting a bit better. I still don't have a readout of when at the G7 meeting, when President Trump and Prime Minister Modi met privately, whether progress was made,' he said.

Tech, Diaspora, and the Road Ahead

Warner highlighted India's rising profile in emerging technologies, calling it 'a great power in terms of the bio space' that is 'increasingly gonna be a major power in AI.' He also credited the Indian-American diaspora with serving as a critical bridge between the two nations. On trade, he was direct: 'We were seeing accelerated trade between our two countries dramatically rise. It took a big dip over the last year and we've gotta get it back on track — for both trading purposes, for bringing our countries closer together, for national security means.' Restoring trade momentum, he said, must remain a priority for both governments.