Former US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan has criticized Donald Trump’s latest trade policies, asserting that heavy tariffs against India are harming America’s international reputation and making China appear more reliable on the global stage.
On The Bulwark podcast, Sullivan pointed out that China’s standing with many nations has improved significantly, surpassing the US in popularity compared to the previous year. According to Sullivan, government leaders in Europe and Asia now view the US as increasingly unreliable, while China is seen as behaving more responsibly and thoughtfully in global affairs.
“China has moved ahead of the United States in popularity in a whole lot of countries, and that was not the case one year ago, where countries now are basically, you know, saying the U.S. brand is in the toilet, and China’s looking like, actually, in a bizarre way, a more responsible player. So that’s one of the big things that I hear from my friends who continue to work in these governments in Europe, in Asia,” Sullivan told Tim Miller on The Bulwark podcast.
Pointing to India, Sullivan said Washington has long been working on a bipartisan basis to strengthen ties with New Delhi to counter the challenge posed by China. However, he argued that Trump’s aggressive trade measures are undermining this effort.
Sullivan said, “Take a look at India as another example. I mean, here’s a country that on a bipartisan basis, we were working to try to build a deeper and more sustainable relationship with, and the China challenge loomed large in that. Now you’ve got President Trump executing a massive trade offensive against them, and the Indians are saying, well, shit, I guess maybe we have to go show up in Beijing and sit with the Chinese, because we’ve got a hedge against America.”
“American brand globally is in the TOILET, Trump trade offensive India China America Ex-NSA Jake Sullivan Trump policy… pic.twitter.com/pPzTih4ImW—Jitendra pratap singh (@jpsin1) August 30, 2025
Trump’s 50% Tariff
Sullivan’s remarks come days after Trump’s 50% tariff on India came into effect. Washington initially imposed a 25% tariff on India, citing unfair trade practices. Days later, Trump imposed an additional 25% tariff on New Delhi over its refusal to halt the import of Russian crude oil.
PM Modi’s China Visit
His remarks also come as Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in China on Saturday for a two-day visit, marking his first trip to the country in seven years. Prime Minister Modi is in China to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit in Tianjin. Apart from the summit, Prime Minister Modi is also going to hold meetings with President Xi Jinping, President Putin, and other leaders on the sidelines of the summit.
Before leaving for China, Prime Minister Modi emphasized that stable, predictable, and amicable bilateral relations between India and China, as two neighbors and the two largest nations on earth, can have a positive impact on regional and global peace and prosperity. He added that this is also crucial for a multi-polar Asia and a multi-polar world.