Senior Congress leader and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan stirred controversy after questioning whether India could face a situation similar to Venezuela following the US’s imposition of high trade tariff. Referring to US actions against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, Chavan asked, “What’s next? Will Mr Trump kidnap our Prime Minister?”
While speaking to news agency IANS, he added that such a steep tariff would make trade commercially impossible. “With a 50 percent tariff, trade is simply not possible. In effect, this amounts to blocking India–US trade, especially exports from India to the United States. Since a direct ban cannot be imposed, tariffs have been used as a tool to stop trade. India will have to bear this. The profits that our people earlier earned from exports to the US will no longer be available,” he said.
On Saturday, US forces entered the Venezuelan capital and captured Maduro and his wife. The couple was then taken to New York. The Donald Trump administration accused Maduro of being involved in an extensive drug-trafficking operation and smuggling narcotics into the US. The US had also called Maduro’s government ‘corrupt and illegitimate’.
After Maduro was captured, Delcy Rodriguez officially took over office as Venezuela’s acting president. As per CNN, Rodriguez said she assumed the role with a heavy heart over what she described as the “kidnapping” of President Nicolas Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores.
After Rodriguez sorn in as country’s interim leader, supporters of Venezuela’s ousted President Nicolas Maduro took to the streets of Caracas. Hundreds of demonstrators were seen carrying Venezuelan flags and holding placards backing the deposed leader, who earlier pleaded not guilty in a New York court following his capture in a US military operation on Saturday.
