“Trump is a bully and a coward”: Suhel Seth slams 25% US tariff, defends India’s resilience
Communications consultant Suhel Seth hits out at US President Donald Trump over punitive trade measures and “dead economy” remark, says India will not be brought to its knees and lauds PM Modi for not yielding to pressure.
ADVERTISEMENT
US President Donald Trump recently escalated trade tensions by branding both India and Russia as "dead economies" and announcing a 25% tariff on Indian goods, with additional unspecified “penalties” tied to New Delhi's continued defense and energy purchases from Moscow.
Prominent commentator and communications consultant Suhel Seth delivered a scathing critique of Trump’s statements, calling him a “bully” and a “coward” with little grasp of economics or diplomacy. Seth rejected Trump’s characterization of India as fragile, asserting that the Indian markets remained unfazed by such inflationary rhetoric.
Speaking to media in Delhi, Seth didn’t mince words, describing Trump as an “unhinged rogue” with little understanding of economics or diplomacy.
“Donald Trump is essentially a bully, and a bully is almost always a coward,” Seth said. “He is not interested in any bilateral relationship or global order. Most Americans are suffering because of his presidency, and now he wants to export that chaos abroad.”
Trump’s recent comments and trade move, seen by many as political posturing ahead of the US election season, have sparked widespread backlash in India.
“If Trump believes that imposing penalties will bring India to its knees, he is wrong,” Seth said. “Yes, there will be some trouble, but it will not wreck us as he imagines. The stock market is a reflection of that. The markets today did not even care about Trump’s nonsense.”
Seth also lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not yielding to Trump’s pressure tactics. “I am glad that PM Modi is not succumbing to this level of bullying, this level of cowardice, and this level of pathetic relationship building,” he said.
The escalating rhetoric follows Trump’s broader criticism of India’s trade policies and its relationship with Russia. While Trump’s tone has raised diplomatic eyebrows, India has so far projected calm, with experts noting that the long-term fundamentals of the Indian economy remain strong.
Seth concluded by questioning Trump’s use of inflammatory language: “Look at the language Trump uses. It’s beneath any serious global leader.”
Recently, Trump took to his Truth Social platform to declare, “I don't care what India does with Russia. They can take their dead economies down together, for all I care.
We have done very little business with India, their tariffs are too high… and Russia and the USA do almost no business together.”
During the Parliament Monsoon Session recently, Union Minister Piyush Goyal while responding to Trump tariffs said that India will soon become the third largest in the world in terms of GDP size and is currently the world's fastest growing major economy.
In what appeared to be a response to US President Donald Trump's jibe that India is a 'dead economy', Goyal also said that in a span of few years India has gone from being the world's 11th largest to the 5th largest.
