‘Maybe ask Meta, Elon Musk, Tim Cook’: War of words after Navarro reposts ‘tariff foreign remote workers’ post

Social media have been abuzz with commentary on tariffs and trade, with both sides – US and India – firing salvos at each other. White House trade adviser reposted the post of an American alt-right political activist who said foreign remote workers should be tariffed. He also shared the ‘repost’ notification after Navarro’s activity, indicating that this tariff is a likelihood.

“It’s happening”, said Jack Posobiec, sharing the screenshot of the notification. His original tweet argued that foreign remote workers should be tariffed and that all outsourcing should be tariffed. He said countries must pay for the privilege of providing services remotely to the US the same way as goods.

IPR attorney and author Navroop Singh said in that case India could just put the Digital Service Tax back on Big Tech. They too need 1.4 billion people or will lose the largest consumer base in the world, he said.

“These bullying tactics won’t work @RealPNavarro ! Maybe you should ask Meta, Elon Musk & Tim Cook! They will give you a reality check!” said Singh. He said maybe Posobeic should ask Sam Altman if ChatGPT wants to lose the largest consumer market in the world.

Singh also underscored that OpenAI is opening the biggest office in India in Delhi-NCR, Google is investing $6 billion in India for its data centre, and India is gradually becoming the global hub of GCC. Apple is manufacturing the iPhone 17 in India for $1,000 against $3,000 that would cost them in the US.

“Reality is India is a consumption based economy and agro based workforce which can sustain itself and cannot be destroyed by tariffs like China which is an export driven economy,” he said.

Meanwhile, Navarro has been accused of ruining US-India relations. Strategic expert Ashley J Tellis said Navarro damaged the bilateral ties between both the countries, and pushed New Delhi closer to US’ adversaries. Tellis said Navarro has put India in a position where it is now aligning with some of America’s enemies due to limited options. This comes as President Donald Trump imposed secondary tariffs on India, now exceeding 50 per cent, the highest on his trade list apart from Brazil.

The core issue, according to Tellis, is Trump’s deeper grievance over not receiving credit for helping to de-escalate the India-Pakistan conflict in May 2025.