US Vice President J.D. Vance suggested that troops from India or Saudi Arabia could be deployed as peacekeepers in Ukraine during a White House discussion on US strategy on the war in Ukraine, according to a new book published on Tuesday.
The comments were made early in Trump’s second presidency, according to the book “Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump” by New York Times journalists Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan.
The Trump administration held an Oval Office meeting ten days after his inauguration, where the president and his senior advisers were briefed by retired Army Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, whom Trump appointed as special presidential envoy for Ukraine and Russia.
During the discussion, Kellogg introduced a proposal titled “The America First Plan: Trump’s Historic Peace Deal for the War Between Russia and Ukraine,” Haberman and Swan wrote. As part of the proposal, the United States would not formally recognize Russia’s claims over occupied Ukrainian territory, but would also include “a significant concession that Ukraine will not attempt to reclaim territory already lost by force” — an approach that led the gathering to discuss non-NATO peacekeepers.
“Are there forces from other countries that could serve this purpose,” the book quotes the vice president, before suggesting “Saudi Arabia or India.” “The Indians wouldn’t do that,” the book adds, quoting the president. Trump laughed. “They wouldn’t pay for something like that.”
Trump reportedly said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a good relationship with him. “Prime Minister Modi really liked it and wanted to visit it, but Indians never pay for anything,” the book said.
Trump on tariffs on India
In another chapter of the book, Trump mentions India again while discussing tariffs. Days after tech billionaire Elon Musk, who was a “private government employee,” clashed with Cabinet secretaries, the White House hosted a meeting of the Council of Technology CEOs on March 10. Attendees in the Roosevelt Room included the heads of several major technology companies, including IBM, Dell, HPE, HP Inc., Qualcomm and Intel.
US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick asked the executives: “What do we need to do to get you to commit to building new factories in the United States?” During this meeting, Trump talked down India while discussing tariffs, claiming that the country had imposed 175% tariffs on American goods.
“Those who won’t build here are going to have to pay huge tariffs… Not 20 percent, like 100 percent… We’re being treated unfairly. China is charging us with tariffs of over 150 to 200 percent, and India is 175 percent,” Trump said, according to the book.
