US President Donald Trump's trade advisor, Peter Navarro, made a vicious attack on Elon Musk's platform X on Monday and also took on India for its energy relations with Russia, accusing New Delhi of paying "blood money" for imports.
Going to X, Navarro employed harsh words in claiming that India was not an active buyer of Russian oil prior to the Ukraine war. "Fact: India didn't buy Russian oil in big numbers prior to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. It's blood money and people are dying," he tweeted.
His comments came in the wake of a heated exchange with Musk on the same platform. Navarro had earlier attacked India for importing Russian crude "solely for profit" and ranted at the government's position, stating: "Stop killing Ukrainians. Stop taking American jobs."
The trade advisor also lambasted Musk directly, fuming over Community Notes on X that labeled his comments as misleading. He stated Musk was letting "crap notes" run wild.
Musk, however, came to the defense of the platform's fact-checking process. In reply to Navarro, he stated: "On this platform, the people decide the narrative… You hear all sides of an argument. Community Notes corrects everyone, no exceptions. Notes data & code is public source. Grok provides additional fact-checking."
India's Ministry of External Affairs dismissed Navarro's allegations in full, terming them as "inaccurate and misleading statements."
This is not the first time Navarro has been critical of India’s policies. Earlier, he questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s outreach to Russian and Chinese leaders during the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Tianjin, saying: “India needs to be with us, not Russia.”
Despite Navarro’s repeated criticism, Trump himself has spoken warmly about India’s ties with the U.S. He has often referred to the partnership as a “very special relationship.” Although he once suggested that Washington was “losing” India to China, he later clarified, "I’ll always be friends" with Prime Minister Modi.
PM Modi, in turn, acknowledged the sentiment, saying he values and “fully reciprocates President Trump’s words.”
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