Indian Army Highlights Historical US-Pakistan Military Relations Amid Current Trade Tensions
On Tuesday, the Indian Army highlighted historical US military support to Pakistan by sharing a newspaper clipping from August 5, 1971. This archival piece, shared by the Eastern Command, came shortly after US President Donald Trump issued a warning to significantly increase tariffs on Indian goods due to India's ongoing procurement of Russian oil.
The newspaper excerpt from 1971 detailed a statement by then Defence Production Minister VC Shukla in the Rajya Sabha. Shukla discussed global arms supplies to Pakistan prior to the Indo-Pakistani war. According to the extract, while the Soviet Union and France denied supplying arms to Pakistan, the United States continued its support, with allegations that both the US and China provided weapons at extremely low prices.
The Eastern Command's post drew comparisons to current events, where the US has recently lowered tariffs on Pakistan from 29% to 19% but has warned India of significant tariff increases. President Trump, in a post on Truth Social, accused India of benefiting from the resale of Russian oil amidst the Ukraine conflict and threatened to impose tariffs exceeding the current 25% rate.
In response, India's foreign ministry highlighted that the US had initially supported Russian oil imports at the onset of the Ukraine war. The ministry also pointed out that while European countries criticize India, they continue to engage in large-scale trade with Russia, including record levels of LNG imports in 2024. Official data showed that EU-Russia trade amounted to €67.5 billion in goods and €17.2 billion in services in 2023, significantly surpassing India's trade with Moscow.
