India, Sept. 3 -- Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro has criticised Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for aligning with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping during the recent Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Tianjin. Calling the show of unity "troublesome," Navarro said India should stand with the West, not authoritarian regimes.

"It was a shame to see Modi getting in bed as the leader of the biggest democracy in the world with the two biggest authoritarian dictators," Navarro said at a White House briefing. "That doesn't make any sense."

His comments come amid tensions in US-India relations, worsened by high tariffs and India's continued purchases of discounted Russian oil. The Trump admin...