WASHINGTON: Republican Senator Ted Cruz has blamed White House trade adviser Peter Navarro, Vice President JD Vance and President Donald Trump for resisting a trade deal with India, according to a US media report.
During private meetings with donors, Cruz told them about "battling" the White House to accept a trade agreement with India, Axios reported, citing audio recordings of their conversation provided by a Republican source.
When a donor asked who in the administration is resistant to reaching such accords, Cruz mentioned White House economic adviser Peter Navarro, Vance and "sometimes" Trump, it said, citing a nearly 10-minute recording that dates back to early and mid-2025.
PTI could not independently verify the authenticity of the audio.
The Texas Republican Senator, who is eyeing a 2028 White House run, also warned that Trump's tariffs could decimate the economy and lead to his impeachment.
Cruz said that after Trump introduced the tariffs in early April 2025, he and a few other senators had a call with the President in which they urged him to stand down.
He said the lengthy call, which stretched past midnight, "did not go well," and that Trump was "yelling" and "cursing."
The India-US ties witnessed a major downturn after President Trump slapped a whopping 50 per cent tariff on Indian goods, including a 25 per cent punitive levy over Russian oil purchases.
Both sides held multiple rounds of negotiations last year to firm up the proposed bilateral trade deal. However, it could not be sealed yet largely in view of Washington's demands to open up India's farm and dairy sectors.
Apart from the tariffs, the relations came under strain on a number of other issues, including Trump's claim of ending the India-Pakistan conflict in May last year and Washington's new immigration policy.
Earlier this month, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick claimed that the trade deal with India did not happen because PM Narendra Modi did not call President Trump.
Trump earlier said that Modi knew he was unhappy with India's purchases of Russian oil and that Washington could raise tariffs on New Delhi "very quickly".
The threat by the US president came at a time when the two countries were negotiating a bilateral trade agreement.