Former diplomat Vikas Swarup on Friday said India has always followed the principle of strategic autonomy and will not be “dictated” by anyone, responding to sharp remarks from White House trade advisor Peter Navarro.

Swarup, who once served as the Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson, told ANI that the Trump administration is trying to exert “all kinds of pressure” on New Delhi. “US officials are trying to put all kinds of pressure on India. But India is a very proud nation, India is a country which has always followed the principle of strategic autonomy. We will not be dictated by anyone,” he said.

Commenting on India-US trade ties, Swarup said expectations had been high when Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Donald Trump built a personal rapport, but the deal never materialised. “We all thought that, given the personal relationship that PM Modi has developed with President Trump and the fact that President Trump really respects PM Modi, we thought that an India-US Trade Deal would come quite early. But unfortunately, that has not happened,” he noted.

Still, Swarup held out hope for a breakthrough. “I think the time is still there for the two sides to find a mutually acceptable solution,” he said, while cautioning that “these current comments coming from the Trump administration are not helping the cause.”

Navarro’s comments came after Trump imposed a 50 per cent tariff on Indian imports, accusing New Delhi of using trade profits to buy discounted Russian crude and indirectly financing Moscow’s war in Ukraine. In a post on X, Navarro wrote: “President Trump’s 50 per cent tariffs on Indian imports are now in effect. This isn’t just about India’s unfair trade — it’s about cutting off the financial lifeline India has extended to Putin’s war machine.” He accused India of blocking US exports with high tariffs while profiting from refining and reselling Russian oil.

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With inputs from ANI