White House Adviser Navarro Says He Was ‘Firebombed’ Online by India Over Russia Oil Criticism

“I actually got firebombed by the Indian continent on the internet with all sorts of nasty little attacks. And all I would say is, don't do that. That's not how we resolve problems here in America,” Navarro told reporters at the White House.

Navarro has repeatedly criticised India, including calling it the “Maharaja of tariffs”, while defending US retaliatory tariffs in response to India’s purchase of Russian oil.

Navarro, who advises US President Donald Trump on trade and manufacturing matters, said India was not involved in the Russian oil trade before the Ukraine war began in 2022. He said India’s involvement increased after the war started.

“Prior to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, India was not involved in the oil trade with Russia, but afterwards it got heavily involved and was selling a lot of refined products on behalf of Russia, which helped feed the war machine,” he said.

The US official said the issue has now been resolved and claimed that he played a role in reducing India’s oil trade with Russia.

Breaking: "I got actually firebombed by the Indian continent on the internet. All I would say to you, don't do that. That's not how we resolve problems here in America," says White House official Peter Navarro after getting trolled online for insulting statements about India pic.twitter.com/iH2sHMOGWB

— Shashank Mattoo (@MattooShashank) August 11, 2026

“Maybe, I had a little bit to do with that with that op-ed,” Navarro said, referring to an article he wrote for The Financial Times.

Navarro said he was “firebombed” by India over his comments about the country and its trade policies involving Russia. He urged his critics to stop making “nasty little attacks”, saying such criticism is not how problems are resolved in America.

Navarro has been a vocal critic of India’s trade policies involving Russia and has previously accused the country of helping fund Russia’s “war machine” in Ukraine.

In his opinion piece for the Financial Times, he described India’s oil trade with Russia as “opportunistic” and “corrosive” to international efforts to isolate the Russian economy.

“As Russia continues to hammer Ukraine, helped by India’s financial support, American (and European) taxpayers are then forced to spend tens of billions more to help Ukraine’s defence. Meanwhile, India keeps slamming the door on American exports through high tariffs and trade barriers. More than 300,000 soldiers and civilians have been killed, while Nato’s eastern flank grows more exposed and the west foots the bill for India’s oil laundering,” Navarro wrote.

A few days later, he stepped up his criticism of India, calling the country a “laundromat for the Kremlin”.

He has also referred to the Russia-Ukraine conflict as “Modi's war”, claiming that the money Moscow earns through oil sales is used to fund “its war machine” in Ukraine.

India rejected Navarro’s remarks about its Russian oil purchases in September last year, describing them as “inaccurate and misleading”.

“We have seen the inaccurate and misleading statements made by Mr Navarro and obviously reject them,” external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.