India, Aug. 5 -- India's blunt response to US President Donald Trump's repeated outbursts on New Delhi's trade and defence relations with Moscow highlighted the double standards of Western powers that have criticised India for purchasing discounted Russian commodities over the past three years. Trump, who follows a completely transactional and unpredictable approach to global trade and key geo-strategic relationships, has spoken more than once in recent days about levying an unspecified penalty on India for its purchases of energy and military hardware from Russia, over and above the 25% tariff that he has already imposed on exports to the US.

The external affairs ministry's response to Trump's latest fusillade against India has two key ...