'He has his reasons': Shashi Tharoor on Rahul Gandhi's support for Trump's 'dead economy' remark

The remarks came after Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Thursday agreed with Trump's statement that the Indian economy is "dead" and said he is "glad" that the US President has stated a fact.

Speaking to the mediapersons, Tharoor said, "I don't want to comment on what my party leader has said. He has his reasons for saying so. My concern is that our relationship with the US, as a strategic and economic partnership, is important for us. We are exporting around 90 billion worth of goods to America. We can't be in a position to lose that or have it diminish significantly."

"We must wish our negotiators strength to get a fair deal for India. We should also be talking to other regions for exporting our goods. Then we could make up for some of what we might lose in the US. We have to support our negotiators," he added.

In a bid to corner the Modi government, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Thursday backed US President Donald Trump's statement where he called the Indian economy "dead".

Training his guns on India and its all-weather friend Russia, Trump had posted on Truth Social, "I don’t care what India does with Russia. 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.

"Likewise, Russia and the USA do almost no business together. Let’s keep it that way, and tell Medvedev, the failed former President of Russia, who thinks he’s still President, to watch his words. He’s entering very dangerous territory!"

Weaponsing Trump's statement, Rahul, who is the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, took a jibe at the Modi government.

"Yes, he is right. Everybody knows this except the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister. Everybody knows that the Indian economy is a dead economy. I am glad that President Trump has stated a fact," the Rae Bareli MP told the reporters in the Parliament premises.

Trump on Wednesday announced a 25 percent tariff on imports from India and an added penalty starting on August 1.