India firmly Rejects US Trade Adviser Peter Navarro’s Remarks On Brahmins Profiteering Over Russian Oil Deals

New Delhi: India strongly rejected the remarks made by US trade adviser Peter Navarro. Speaking at a media briefing on Friday, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said. “We have seen the inaccurate and misleading statements made by Mr (Peter) Navarro, and obviously, we reject them.”

Jaiswal was responding to recent remarks made by Navarro, who stated in an interview on Fox News that “Brahmins are profiteering at the expense of ordinary Indians.” Navarro was referring to India’s buying of crude oil from Russia.

Despite the rejection of Navarro’s statement, the MEA spokesperson did not comment on President Trump’s recent post on Truth Social on "losing" India and Russia to China. Jaiswal said he had no comments to offer on the US president’s post.

Instead, he focused on the importance of the relationship for both India and the US. “This relationship is very important to us. Both nations (India and the US) share a Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership that is anchored in our shared interests, democratic values, and people-to-people ties. The partnership has weathered several challenges, and we hope both countries move forward on the basis of our shared values and mutual respect.”

Pointing to the recent India-US 2+2 Intersessional Dialogue and the fact that a US defence policy group had recently visited India, the MEA spokesperson confirmed that dialogue between both nations was continuing. He did not confirm Trump’s attendance at the Quad summit scheduled for later this year, nor did he confirm any bilateral meetings by the leaders on the sidelines of the UNGA, which will open on September 9 in New York.

On other issues, the MEA spokesperson stated there would be a virtual meeting of Brics nations at the leadership level on September 8. From India’s side, he said, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar would be attending the meeting. The meeting called by Brazil’s President Lula is expected to discuss a common strategy on handling the US tariffs.

Asked whether India was sharing data withPakistan on the floodwater situation, given that the Indus Water Treaty (IWT) was now in abeyance, Jaiswal said that data-sharing was still taking place at the diplomatic level through the Indian High Commission in Islamabad. Pakistan is facing flash floods, with an estimated four million people being affected in its Punjab province.