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NBC News
a few seconds ago
- NBC News
Modi was ready to 'make India great again,' then Trump put America first
The U.S. and India 's blossoming friendship is at risk of falling to pieces, observers have warned, as President Donald Trump threatens to substantially increase tariffs on Indian goods over its purchases of Russian oil. At the start of the year, India seemed to be one of the countries most likely to win Trump's favor, given its growing role as an Asian counterweight to China and Trump's close relationship with its leader, Prime Minister Narendra Modi. But U.S. relations with India have instead come under strain over trade and other issues. Trump has threatened Apple and other companies that manufacture in India, moved closer to its biggest rival, Pakistan, and mocked India's 'dead' economy. 'He's threatening to undo, or at least hit pause on, what has been two decades of steadily improving relations between India and the U.S.,' said Dhruva Jaishankar, executive director of the Observer Research Foundation America, a nonprofit group in Washington. On Monday, citing India's 'massive' purchases of Russian oil, Trump said he would 'substantially' increase the U.S. tariff on Indian imports, which is already one of the highest among Asian countries at 25%. Along with China, India is a top purchaser of Russian crude oil sanctioned by Western governments after Moscow's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. In a sharp response, India, a major U.S. security partner, said such criticism was 'unjustified and unreasonable' and that it bought Russian oil with U.S. support. 'India began importing from Russia because traditional supplies were diverted to Europe after the outbreak of the conflict,' the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement Monday. 'The United States at that time actively encouraged such imports by India for strengthening global energy markets stability.' The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. U.S.-India tensions are mounting domestic political pressure on Modi, with opponents accusing him of failing to stand up to his 'dear friend' Trump. 'The country is now bearing the cost of Narendra Modi's 'friendship,'' the opposition Congress party said last week. 'I don't want you building in India' It was a different picture in February, when Modi was among the first world leaders to visit the White House after Trump returned to office. Mirroring Trump, he said he too would 'make India great again.' The bonhomie did not last long. Since then, Trump has needled India over a number of issues, including billions in investment by American companies as they shift manufacturing from China. Last quarter, India produced 44% of U.S. smartphone imports, more than any other country including China, according to data from the research firm Canalys. That includes iPhones sold in the U.S., the majority of which Apple chief executive Tim Cook says will have India as their country of origin starting this quarter. 'I don't want you building in India,' Trump said he told Cook in May, urging him to produce phones in the U.S. instead, despite the difficulties. Cozying up to India's foe A terrorist attack in Indian-controlled Kashmir that killed 26 people in April is another source of friction in U.S.-India relations. India responded by bombing neighboring Pakistan, which it has long accused of harboring terrorists, resulting in a four-day conflict that threatened to explode into a broader war fueled by decades of tensions between the two nuclear-armed countries. Trump irked India by repeatedly claiming that he had personally brokered a ceasefire. While Islamabad thanked Trump for mediating, India rejected claims of U.S. involvement, including in a call between Modi and Trump. 'India has not endorsed Trump's claim,' said Amitendu Palit, a former Indian finance ministry official and a senior research fellow at the Institute of South Asian Studies at the National University of Singapore. 'That has not gone down very well with Trump,' he said. Within weeks, Trump hosted Pakistan's powerful army chief at the White House in an unprecedented meeting. He has also imposed a lower tariff rate on Pakistan of 19% and said the U.S. had reached a deal with Pakistan on exploring its oil reserves. Squeezed over Russia As Trump has expressed growing frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin, he has turned his attention to India's relationship with Moscow. For years, New Delhi has benefited from its 'non-aligned' foreign policy, which allowed India to strengthen U.S. ties while continuing its longstanding relationship with Russia, one of its main suppliers of energy and military equipment. When Russian oil was hit with Western-led sanctions over Ukraine, India — the third-largest energy consumer in the world after China and the U.S. — seized the opportunity to buy it at a discount, which even U.S. officials said helped stabilize global oil prices. 'They bought Russian oil because we wanted somebody to buy Russian oil,' Eric Garcetti, the U.S. ambassador to India under former President Joe Biden, said at a conference last year. 'It was actually the design of the policy, because as a commodity we didn't want oil prices going up.' The U.S. position on India's oil purchases appears to have reversed under Trump, who said in a social media post last week that India and Russia 'can take their dead economies down together.' 'We are now at a stage where the American ability to control Russia and its allies is beginning to impact India,' Palit said. Jaishankar said that while Trump's actions won't push India out of America's orbit, they could drive India to strengthen ties with other countries such as China. During a meeting of their foreign ministers in Beijing last month, India and China agreed to resume direct flights between their countries for the first time in five years. Despite the recent setbacks in their relationship, India will continue to engage with the U.S. as a key strategic and technological partner, said Chietigj Bajpaee, a senior research fellow for South Asia at Chatham House, a London-based think tank. 'But I think it's a wake-up call of sorts,' he said.
CBS News
a few seconds ago
- CBS News
Brazil's Bolsonaro, former president charged with masterminding coup plot and a Trump ally, ordered under house arrest
Sao Paulo — A justice on Brazil's Supreme Court ordered the house arrest Monday of former President Jair Bolsonaro, on trial for allegedly masterminding a coup plot to remain in office despite his defeat in the 2022 election - a case that has gripped the South American country as it faces a trade war with the Trump administration. Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who oversees the case against Bolsonaro before the top court, said in his decision that the 70-year-old former president had violated precautionary measures imposed on him by spreading content through his three lawmaker sons. Bolsonaro's lawyers said in a statement that he will appeal the decision. They said his words "good afternoon, Copacabana, good afternoon my Brazil, a hug to everyone, this is for our freedom" - broadcast from a cell phone of one of his sons during a Sunday protest in Rio de Janeiro - cannot "be regarded as ignoring precautionary measures or as a criminal act." The trial of the far-right leader is receiving renewed attention after President Trump directly tied a 50% tariff on imported Brazilian goods to his ally's judicial situation. Mr. Trump has called the proceedings a " witch hunt," triggering nationalist reactions from leaders of all branches of power in Brazil, including President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Hours after the decision, the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs said on X that the Trump administration "condemns (de) Moraes' order imposing house arrest on Bolsonaro and will hold accountable all those aiding and abetting sanctioned conduct." "Putting even more restrictions on Jair Bolsonaro's ability to defend himself in public is not a public service. Let Bolsonaro speak!" the post said. Brazil's government hasn't commented on the case. Brazil's prosecutors accuse Bolsonaro of heading a criminal organization that plotted to overturn the election, including plans to kill Lula and Justice de Moraes after the far-right leader narrowly lost his reelection bid in 2022. Monday's order followed one from the top court last month that ordered Bolsonaro to wear an electronic ankle monitor and imposed a curfew on his activities while the proceedings are underway. Following news of the arrest order, a staffer with Brazil's federal police told The Associated Press federal agents had seized cell phones at Bolsonaro's residence in the capital of Brasilia, as ordered by de Moraes in his decision. The staffer spoke on condition of anonymity due to their lack of authorization to speak about the matter publicly. De Moraes also warned that any new transgression would lead to him being detained, French news agency AFP reports. Bolsonaro is expected to remain in Brasilia for his house arrest as he isn't allowed to travel. He also has a house in Rio de Janeiro, where he held his electoral base as a lawmaker for three decades. The former army captain is the fourth former president of Brazil to be arrested since the end of the country's military rule from 1964 to 1985, which Bolsonaro supported. The move from the Brazilian justice comes a day after tens of thousands of Bolsonaro supporters took the streets in the cities of Sao Paulo and Rio, pleading for Brazil's congress to pardon him and hundreds of others who are either under trial or jailed for their roles in the destruction of government buildings in Brasilia on Jan. 8, 2023. On Sunday, Bolsonaro addressed supporters in Rio through the phone of one of his sons, which de Moraes' described as illegal. "The flagrant disrespect to the precautionary measures was so obvious that the defendant's son, Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, decided to remove the posting in his Instagram profile, with the objective of hiding the legal transgression," de Moraes wrote. Flávio Bolsonaro claimed on X that Brazil "is officially in a dictatorship" after his father's house arrest. "The persecution of de Moraes against Bolsonaro has no limits!" the senator wrote. De Moraes added in his ruling that Jair Bolsonaro, who governed Brazil between 2019 and 2022, has spread messages with "a clear content of encouragement and instigation to attacks against the Supreme Court and a blatant support for foreign intervention in the Brazilian Judiciary" - likely a veiled reference to Mr. Trump's support for Bolsonaro. De Moraes also said Bolsonaro "addressed protesters gathered in Copacabana, in Rio" on Sunday so his supporters could "try to coerce the Supreme Court." Last week, the U.S. Treasury Department announced sanctions on de Moraes over alleged suppression of freedom of expression regarding Bolsonaro's trial. On Monday, the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs called the Brazilian justice "a U.S.-sanctioned human rights abuser" and accused him of using "institutions to silence opposition and threaten democracy." De Moraes said in his decision that "(Brazil's) judiciary will not allow a defendant to make a fool out of it." "Justice is the same for all. A defendant who willingly ignores precautionary measures - for the second time - must suffer legal consequences," he said. Creomar de Souza, a political analyst of Dharma Political Risk and Strategy, a political consultancy firm based in Brasilia, said Bolsonaro's house arrest opens a new moment for the country's opposition, which will could gather steam in fighting against Lula's reelection bid next year. Now, de Souza said, "the 2026 election looks like turmoil" and the political debate in Brazil will likely be split between two key struggles. "One is the effort of Bolsonaro supporters to keep strong on the right, no matter if it is pushing for amnesty in congress or putting themselves physically out there," the analyst said. "The second is how the Lula administration will try to show that the country has a government." "This is just the start," he concluded. The latest decision from the top court keeps Bolsonaro under ankle monitoring, allows only family members and lawyers to visit him and seizes all mobile phones from his home. Lula was imprisoned for 580 days between 2018 and 2019 in a corruption conviction that was later tossed out by the Supreme Court, citing the bias of the judge in the case. Michel Temer, who became president after Dilma Rousseff was impeached in 2016, was arrested for 10 days in 2019 in connection with a graft investigation, which later ended without a conviction. Earlier this year, de Moraes ordered the detention of President Fernando Collor, who was in office from 1990 to 1992 until he was impeached. The 75-year-old former president was convicted of money laundering and corruption in 2023 and is now serving his more than eight-year sentence. Hours after the order, right-wing lawmakers criticized de Moraes' decision and compared Bolsonaro's situation to that of his predecessors. "House arrest for Jair Bolsonaro by de Moraes. Reason: corruption?" asked lawmaker Nikolas Ferreira. "No. His kids posted his content on social media. Pathetic." The far-right leader is already barred from next year's election due to an abuse of power conviction by the country's top electoral court. Leftist lawmaker Duda Salabert said Bolsonaro's house arrest boosts Brazil's democracy. "And those who attacked it are about to pay," Salabert said.
Fox News
a few seconds ago
- Fox News
The Investigation Of The Investigators
The investigator is now being investigated. Former Special Counsel Jack Smith, who led two of the four criminal cases against then former President Donald Trump, is under scrutiny over allegations he was politically targeting the President. James Trusty, former federal prosecutor and former Trump attorney during the Jack Smith investigations, joins the Rundown to discuss the latest investigation. Home price listings have reached a new high, over $435,000 for the median U.S. home, according to the National Association of Realtors. As housing sales slow, it's one of the things on President Trump's mind when he emphasizes the need for interest rates to come down. Real estate broker and star of 'Million Dollar Listing New York,' Kirsten Jordan, joins the show to discuss rising mortgage rates, the financial temptation to rent, and why younger buyers are facing issues which older generations did not. Plus, commentary from the host of 'Tomi Lahren is Fearless' on Outkick, Tomi Lahren. Photo Credit: AP Learn more about your ad choices. Visit
