00:00India will be watching the meeting in Alaska closely because it could shape the future of
00:08India-U.S. relations. And Trump's team is sending the same signal. Consider what Scott Besant said.
00:14He is the U.S. Treasury Secretary. He says if there's no breakthrough on Ukraine, the U.S.
00:19will raise secondary tariffs on India. And it does not stop there. Besant wants the European
00:24Union to do the same. He wants them to impose similar tariffs on India.
00:31We put a secondary tariff on Indians for buying Russian oil, and I could see if things don't go
00:36well. Then sanctions or secondary tariffs could go up. President Trump is meeting with President
00:41Putin, and the Europeans are in the wings carping about how he should do it, what he should do.
00:46The Europeans need to join us in these sanctions. The Europeans need to be willing to put on these
00:51secondary sanctions. It's a clear case of economic hostage-taking. Here is how Trump and team are
00:58looking at this. If Trump does not get a deal from Putin, they will raise more tariffs on India and
01:03get Europe to do the same. No such tough talk for China, though. And Besant was asked about this,
01:10about China's purchases of Russian crude. Beijing is Moscow's largest customer for Russian oil.
01:16Will America put a tariff on China for that? That was the question. And Besant was noncommittal. He said
01:23all options are on the table. That's all that he said. But let the double standards be kept aside for a
01:31moment. Let's set them aside for now. Let's talk about Trump's strategy. His plan to use tariffs to gain
01:37leverage over Russia. Is that plan really working? And how effective is the strategy? Trump says the tariffs are
01:45working? That they are hurting Russia's economy and isolating Putin. But does that claim hold water? Is Putin
01:53really isolated? Well, India, for one, is not cutting ties with Russia. Instead, the partnership is deepening.
01:59Earlier this month, both countries signed a pact. It aims to expand industrial cooperation in a range of sectors,
02:06aluminium, fertilizers, railways, mining and technology. And that's not all. There's been a flurry of high-level
02:13engagements. Last week, Ajit Doval was in Moscow. He's India's national security advisor. He met Russian
02:19President Putin. And he discussed a whole lot of issues from energy to defense. In fact, a key focus
02:26area was joint projects. India and Russia wish to work together on several fronts. Here's what the
02:32Russians said about it. I'm quoting, the two sides discussed the topical issues of military technical
02:38cooperation between Russia and India and implementation of joint projects in other strategic
02:42areas, including civil aircraft, metallurgy and chemical industry.
02:49So instead of moving away, New Delhi is investing more in this relationship.
02:54Five days back, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a phone call with President Putin.
02:59He invited the Russian President to India. And this could happen before the end of this year.
03:03Preparations are gathering pace. Next week, S.J. Shankar will visit Russia. He's India's
03:08external affairs minister. J. Shankar will hold consultations with Sergei Lavrov. He's the
03:13Russian foreign minister. And together, they will lay the groundwork for Putin's visit to
03:18India. So Trump's tariffs are having the opposite effect. Instead of driving a wedge between India
03:25and Russia, he's bringing them closer. He may brand the tariffs as pressure, but they are in fact a
03:33diversionary tactic meant to hide his own failures. He promised to end the Ukraine war within 24 hours
03:41of taking office on his first day as president. It's been more than 200 days. Instead of ending,
03:46the war is intensifying. Now all eyes are on the Alaska summit, but a deal looks unlikely. The White
03:52House is already downplaying expectations. If those talks collapse, if the meeting ends without a deal,
04:00there will be no one left for Trump to blame except himself.
04:16The White House is already downplaying expectations.
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