Trump-Modi's very good relationship is gone now: Former US NSA Bolton

Former US National Security Adviser (NSA) Jon Bolton on Thursday said that President Donald Trump's relationship with Prime Minister Narendra Modi has "gone now." In a post on X, Bolton said, "Trump had a very strong relationship with Modi. I think that's gone now."

Bolton, who served as the NSA during Trump's first term, commented on the relationship between the two leaders during an interview with British media platform LBC News.

Sharing his interview on X, Bolton further said that the fallout is a "lesson to everybody, for example, Keir Starmer (British Prime Minister), that a good personal relationship may help at times, but it won't protect you from the worst."

'India-US ties one-sided disaster'

Bolton's remark comes as the relationship between India and the US has been strained after Trump accused India of charging high tariffs and imposed a 50 per cent tariff on the import of Indian goods, which came into effect on August 27.

In a recent post on Truth Social, Trump once again criticised India for charging “unfairly high tariffs”. He argued that India’s high tariffs, “the most of any country,” have long prevented American companies from selling into the Indian market. “It has been a totally one-sided disaster!” he said. Trump further noted that India continues to buy most of its oil and defence equipment from Russia, rather than the US.

Meanwhile, Trump has also repeatedly claimed that he brokered peace between India and Pakistan when New Delhi retaliated against Islamabad in Operation Sindoor. The escalation followed a terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam, where 26 civilians were killed in April.

India gets closer to China, Russia

Bolton’s comment also came shortly after Modi held discussions with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of Beijing's Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit that concluded earlier this week. The global leaders agreed on increasing bilateral cooperation between the nations.

India's increasing closeness with China and Russia has raised alarms for the US. Speaking to CNN last month, Bolton said Trump’s softer approach toward China, combined with steep tariffs on India, could undo decades of American efforts to draw New Delhi away from Moscow and Beijing.

In a recent interview with Fox News, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said, "At the end of the day, India is the most populous democracy in the world. Its values are much closer to ours and to China’s than to Russia’s.”