Siddaramaiah attacks Modi over Trump’s tariff, calls it a result of ‘prioritising headline management over real diplomacy and national interest’

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.

Substantiating his allegations, Mr. Siddaramaiah said, “Then, Trump did exactly what a true friend wouldn’t: He claimed 33 times (and counting) that he brokered peace between India and Pakistan. He hosted Pakistan’s Army Chief — the man whose hate speeches led to the Pahalgam terror attack. He backed Israel’s brutal assault on Gaza — and Mr. Modi stayed silent, just to remain in Washington’s good books”. When all these things happened, there was no protest or attempt to push back or efforts to protect dignity, the CM alleged.

“Now, Trump hits India with unfair tariffs. Worse, he’s coercing us to cut ties with Russia — a direct attack on our sovereignty. No foreign power can dictate our trade choices. This is the cost of running foreign policy like a personal PR campaign,” Mr. Siddaramaiah maintained.

Stating that the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had stood firm against American pressure in the 1970s, Mr. Siddaramaiah demanded that instead of attacking her legacy, Mr. Modi should learn from it. “India must uphold its strategic autonomy with dignity — not surrender it for photo-ops,” said Mr. Siddaramaiah.