'Flush, flush, flush down the toilet': US lawmaker fires warning shot on Trump's handling of India ties

Amid the ongoing criticism of tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump on India, Congresswoman Sydney Kamlager-Dove sounded an alarm and asked whether Donald Trump would become “the president who lost India". During a Congressional hearing by the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on South and Central Asia on the India-US strategic partnership, Sydney Kamlager-Dove said that the Biden administration had handed Trump "a bilateral relationship at the height of its strength,” only for it to be “flush, flush, flush down the toilet.” She was apparently referring to a revitalised Quad, a budding defence tech partnership and a trusted supply chain partner. She termed it of diplomatic capital in service of Trump's personal grievances and at the expense of our national interest.

"When Trump took office at the beginning of this year, the Biden administration handed him a bilateral relationship at the height of its strength... These were hard-earned accomplishments and the product of strategic discipline from our two countries. And then what happened? Flush, flush, flush down the toilet, the capital that Americans have built over decades in service of Trump's personal grievances and at the expense of our national interests, she said.

'The President who lost India'

At the hearing, Sydney Kamlager-Dove asked whether President Trump would become "the president who lost India or more accurately, who chased India away while revitalising the Russian empire". She accused the Trump administration of straining one of America’s most vital 21st-century partnerships through tariffs, visa hikes and political grievances.


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Sydney Dove said the relationship with India is foundational to America’s position in emerging sectors from defence and energy to AI, space and advanced technologies. "Singling out India for 50 % tariffs, one of the highest rates imposed on any country, has effectively derailed leader-level meetings between our two countries," she stated.

Accusing the MAGA chief of unravelling decades of bipartisan progress, the US Congresswoman said Trump’s tariff regime and confrontational approach toward New Delhi could inflict long-term damage on one of America’s most vital alliances.

She also warned that history may judge Trump harshly and said, “Unless he changes course. Trump will be the American President who lost India." "The US relationship with India will be defining for both countries in how we place ourselves in the 21st-century world order," she said. Working through the Quad, she added, "helps maintain a free and open Indo-Pacific." She blamed his trade policies and what she described as a personal obsession with a Nobel Peace Prize for eroding trust.

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Trade, H1-B visas at centre of debate

She stated that tariffs and visa fees have become the biggest flashpoints. She also blasted the administration's new $100,000 fee on H-1B visas, noting that Indians hold 70 per cent of them. The move, she said, is a direct rebuke to the workforce that has powered US technology, science and medicine.

"Beyond tariffs, Trump has also attacked the people-to-people ties between the US and India. The $100,000 fee on H-1B visas, 70% of which are held by Indians, is a rebuke of the incredible contributions Indians have made to science, technology, medicine, and the arts in the United States," she stated.

India and US witnessed strained ties in the recent times after Trump announced a massive 50 percent tariff on Indian goods, among the highest imposed on any country, and a 25 percent tariff on India-linked Russian oil imports.

(With ANI inputs)