Don’t sell weapons; partner with India to fight climate change: Bernie Sanders

US senator and Democratic presidential front-runner Bernie Sanders has slammed president Donald Trump for selling weapons to India.

The US should partner with New Delhi to fight climate change to save the planet, he suggested.

His remarks came after Trump announced that the US will sign defence deals worth $3 billion with India.

“Instead of selling $3 billion in weapons to enrich Raytheon, Boeing and Lockheed, the US should be partnering with India to fight climate change,” Sanders said in a tweet.

“We can work together to cut air pollution, create good renewable energy jobs, and save our planet,” he said.

In 2016, the US designated India as a Major Defence Partner. Commensurate with this designation, India in 2018 was granted Strategic Trade Authorization tier 1 status, which allows New Delhi to receive license-free access to a wide range of military and dual-use technologies that are regulated by the Department of Commerce.

Bilateral defence trade with India in a little over a decade has increased from near zero in 2008 to $20 billion.

Since 2008, the US has also sold to India over $6.6 billion in defence articles via the direct commercial sales process.

The top categories of DCS to India include aircraft, electronics and gas turbine engines.