Xi Hosts Modi and Putin at SCO Meeting Amid U.S.-India Tensions

Chinese leader Xi Jinping hosted Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin this week at a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation meeting in Tianjin, where a warm display of camaraderie among the three leaders coincided with escalating trade and diplomatic tension between Washington and New Delhi. The summit and accompanying public interactions, including photographs of Modi and Putin walking and briefly holding hands, have fueled concern in Washington that India is moving closer to Moscow and Beijing at a moment of strained U.S. relations.

The meeting came days after the United States increased tariffs on Indian goods in response to New Delhi's continued purchases of Russian oil, a package that the White House described as a 50 percent levy combining reciprocal tariffs and a separate tariff tied to energy imports. President Donald Trump said on social media that India had offered to cut tariffs on U.S. goods to zero, calling the offer overdue and criticizing India for long-standing import barriers. Trump also told reporters in the Oval Office that his administration had imposed secondary sanctions on India and warned that additional rounds of...