Indian-origin venture capitalist Asha Jadeja Motwani, who offered to help read US President Donald Trump’s mind as the largest Indian-American donor of the Republican Party, said New Delhi must be nice to Trump if it wants to reduce tariffs. Listing down five things that New Delhi needs to do to be in Trump’s good books, the Indian-origin entrepreneur said that Trump will reduce tariffs as soon as “we melt him”. “Will Trump reduce tariffs on India? Yes! But this is dependent on how FAST we melt him. He is hurt, humiliated and shocked that his best friend insulted him in public on the ceasefire fiasco (justified or not). He will come around, but SHOW him the warmth that we genuinely have for our bestie US, a fellow democracy, a fellow free country and a fellow market economy. With a 6 million strong diaspora,” Motwani said. The entrepreneur said Trump wants Indian’s top business houses to come together and announce an MOU of between $100 billion to $500 billion investment in the US. The second step will be to close on the purchase of Styker and Javelin. The third will be a promise to buy more energy from the US and reduce dependence on Russian crude. Fourth is to thank Trump, if possible, for “his behind-the-scenes work on controlling Chinese military equipment, and support in Pakistan”.“BE NICE TO TRUMP. He knows we love him, but we must show it more actively. American culture is different from India. Be more expressive,” Motwani wrote. Trump imposed a 25 per cent penalty on India in addition to 25 per cent tariff for buying Russian oil. The new tariffs are set to come into effect on August 27 and US negotiators are expected to go to India on August 25. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has warned that Washington could increase secondary tariffs on India. “We’ve put secondary tariffs on Indians for buying Russian oil. And I could see, If things don’t go well, then sanctions or secondary tariffs could go up,” Bessent said in an interview to Bloomberg TV on Wednesday.
