Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi said on Thursday he was glad that United States President Donald Trump “stated a fact” by calling the Indian economy a dead one, PTI reported.

Gandhi claimed that everyone knew this except Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

“The entire world knows that the Bharatiya Janata Party has ended the Indian economy,” the Congress leader further said. “Why? To help [industrialist Gautam] Adani.”

In a separate post on X, Gandhi accused Modi of killing the economy, citing demonetisation, a “flawed GST”, and a “failed Assemble in India” initiative. He added that micro, small, and medium enterprises had been “wiped out” and farmers had been “crushed”.

Earlier in the day, Trump said that he does not care about “what India does with Russia” and that “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, among the highest in the world,” Trump said on social media. “Likewise, Russia and the USA do almost no business together.”

Trump’s comment on Thursday came a day after he announced a 25% tariff on goods imported from India from August 1. He added that India will also have to pay an unspecified “penalty” for buying a large portion of its military equipment and fuel from Russia amid the war on Ukraine.

Even as Gandhi on Thursday said that Trump spoke the truth about the Indian economy, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi why he was silent on Trump’s “baseless allegations'“ against India.

Kharge said that the tariffs announced by Trump would hurt Indian trade, micro, small and medium enterprises and farmers.

Bharatiya Janata Party MP Sambit Patra said that Gandhi had “crossed all limits” by publicly endorsing Trump’s remark.

“While the world recognises India’s aspiration, achievement, and wellbeing, Rahul Gandhi seems intent on running it down,” he remarked.

Patra pointed out that the International Monetary Fund has upgraded India’s growth forecast for 2025, calling it the fastest among major economies, while the World Bank described India as the “standout growth story” of the decade.

“Rahul Gandhi is attempting to chip away at India’s collective spirit of its ambition & achievements but he’s simply out of sync with a nation chasing its dreams with determination,” Patra said.

US’ ‘reciprocal tariffs’

The United States has said on several occasions it will impose so-called reciprocal tariffs on dozens of countries that have not negotiated separate trade agreements with it by August 1.

Trump announced higher levies in April, before pausing those tariffs at a reduced 10% rate to allow time for negotiations. Despite an extended deadline, Trump has only secured a handful of deals.

Trump had said on June 27 that New Delhi could sign a “very big” trade deal with Washington soon. On July 2, the White House said that the deal was close to being finalised and would be announced soon.

An Indian team led by Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal had visited the US in May to negotiate the agreement. Following this, a team of negotiators from the US was in India for a week in June.

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