Trump's 50% tariffs: India should step on the accelerator with its own reforms
Indian oil imports
from Russia are supposed to have funded Russia's war effort, but not the 60 years of European imports prior to that. India is supposed to be the reason why Putin is not climbing down. Even Indians are not aware of the sway they hold over the world's mightiest powers.
It is the same West which, while being intolerant of Russia, wants India to be magnanimous and understanding of Pakistan. There are limits to hypocrisy and limits to credibility. This is not the India of 1947 when our eyes were half shut. The real story of the Ukraine war is in fact the awakening of the
Global South
to western double standards.
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If the US and its western allies expect India to join them in sanctioning Russia, India has the right to ask them to do the same with China when it threatens India. The US-led West makes matters worse when it awards Pakistan with an IMF tranche exactly on the day when India is engaged in defending itself against Pakistan's terror assault. At the very least, the Indian prime minister was not hosting President Putin for lunch at 7, Lok Kalyan Marg, when his army walked into Ukraine.
The imposition of a 50% tariff on India, with perhaps more to follow, half being on the grounds of helping Russia, is a case study of making enemies out of friends. Since no one is eternal, and no crisis is permanent, this too shall pass, but the signalling and damage done might outlast both. The causes behind the guillotine have less to do with hard facts and geopolitical logic and more to do with personal egos.
The only silver lining in such a situation is that such outbursts tend to be reversible and amenable to correction. No one in India advocates a return to the frosty Indo-US relationship of the Cold War era, and this too is a guarantee for weathering this storm.
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India was buying Russian oil even in February 2025. This was the month when President Trump sent his personal billionaire confidant Steve Witkoff to meet President Putin in Moscow, Vice President Vance admonished European allies at the Munich Security Conference who were already on the edge over fears that the US is set to a deal directly with Russia bypassing them, personal emissaries of Presidents Trump and Putin met face to face for the first time in Riyadh, and President Zelenskyy was given a public dressing down in the Oval Office.
In that month, Trump repeatedly blamed the Biden administration for allowing the Ukraine war to take place. One set of Trump's Cabinet officials spoke of the unimaginable economic opportunities that could open up for American companies in Russia if relations return to normal. Another set explained the Trump strategy as being the reverse Nixonian moment, a move to give Russia space to rebalance its relations between China and the West.
India made it known that it had a huge stake in the success of these efforts. Today, India has been made the collateral damage for the failure of these efforts. Given the opacity surrounding these efforts, no one really knows the true story, but a breakthrough can by no means be ruled out. In either eventuality, the world will look a different place.
India can take satisfaction from the fact that it is in distinguished company of other US friends and allies in helping make America great again. Meanwhile, as many Indian economists have noted, we should step on the accelerator with our own reforms and addressing our challenges. A bit of spine and self-belief in the great task ahead we are embarked upon will do no harm. We are accused of punching above our weight in any case.
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