Trump is pushing India to China but can it offset cost of friction with US?
Team TOI Plus
Updated: Aug 20, 2025, 15:41 IST IST
With Washington's tariffs over Russian oil squeezing India, Modi is eyeing stability with Xi as trade flows restart. That's welcome news but at the same time it sharpens India's foreign policy dilemma
With relations with the United States under strain, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has welcomed a fresh opening in India-China relations, calling them 'steady' and 'guided by respect for each other's interests'.
This comes ahead of Modi's planned visit to China later this month — his first trip in seven years to attend a regional security summit meeting in the northeastern city of Tianjin. — where he will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping. Besides Xi, Russian President Vladimir Putin will also attend, bringing together three leaders at odds, to varying degrees, with the United States.
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Hindustan Times
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When this court has set aside constitutional amendments taking away judicial review as violating the basic structure, can we now say that however high a constitutional authority may be, courts will still be powerless if it does not act?' the bench asked. The bench also pressed the Centre to explain what remedy exists when governors indefinitely delay action. 'Under Article 200, if we hold that the governor has unlimited power to withhold a bill for time immemorial, what is the safeguard for a duly elected legislature? Suppose a legislature elected by a two-thirds majority passes a bill unanimously, and the governor simply sits on it, it would make the legislature totally defunct,' it further remarked. Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Union government, countered that while the court's concern may be justified, it cannot assume jurisdiction to set time limits where the Constitution is silent. 'A justification can never confer jurisdiction. Every problem in this country may not have a solution in the Supreme Court. Some problems must find solutions within the system,' he said. According to Mehta, the solution was in the 'political process, not judicial directions'. He argued that chief ministers could engage directly with governors, prime ministers, or even the President to resolve such impasses. 'Such issues have been arising for decades but have always been resolved through political statesmanship and maturity. Why cannot we trust other constitutional functionaries? The remedy ultimately will lie with Parliament by way of an amendment, not by judicial legislation,' Mehta submitted. At this, the bench interjected: 'When there is no outer limit, can a constitutional interpretation be left to a vacuum? Though a time limit may not be prescribed, there must be some way the process works. There cannot be a situation where not acting on a bill itself is a full stop… nothing further.' 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Washington: 'To achieve America's foreign policy goals of outcompeting China, few objectives are more critical than getting relations between Washington and New Delhi back on track,' wrote Nikki Haley, U.S. President Donald Trump's fellow Republican and former U.N. ambassador, in an op-ed for Newsweek. She urged that India must be treated 'like the prized free and democratic partner that it is, not an adversary like China, which has thus far avoided sanctions for its Russian oil purchases, despite being one of Moscow's largest customers'. She warned that undoing decades of diplomatic momentum with the only Asian power capable of balancing Beijing would be a 'strategic disaster'. She also highlighted India's role in shifting supply chains away from China. 'While the Trump administration works to bring manufacturing back to our shores, India stands alone in its potential to manufacture at a China-like scale for products that cannot be quickly or efficiently produced here, like textiles, inexpensive phones and solar panels,' she said. Add Zee News as a Preferred Source Haley described New Delhi as a 'crucial asset to the free world's security', stressing that unlike authoritarian China, a rising democratic India strengthens the global order. Trump, however, has unsettled both allies and critics by threatening to impose an additional 25 per cent tariff on India for importing discounted oil from Russia. The measure comes on top of a similar levy already rolled out this month, taking the total duty to 50 per cent. Once hailed as Washington's counterweight to China, New Delhi now finds itself grouped with Brazil, whose President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has already threatened retaliation. Beijing, the largest buyer of Russian crude, has been spared from similar penalties. 'Biggest Mistake' Geopolitical analyst Fareed Zakaria joined the wave of criticism. Speaking to CNN, he called the tariff push 'America's biggest foreign policy mistake', warning that even if Trump walks back the decision, 'the damage is done'. According to him, India now views the United States as 'unreliable, its willingness to be brutal to those whom it calls its friends' and may deepen its ties with Russia while easing tensions with China. 'Stupidest Tactical Move' Economist Jeffrey Sachs struck a similar note. On 'Breaking Points' with Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti, he said the White House is effectively binding the BRICS bloc closer together. He branded the tariffs 'the stupidest tactical move in U.S. foreign policy' and labelled Trump 'the great unifier of BRICS'. 'Tariff Tantrum' The pushback has reached Capitol Hill as well. Senior Congressman Gregory Meeks, a Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, denounced the policy as a 'tariff tantrum' that risks dismantling over two decades of strategic, economic and cultural ties. 'We have deep strategic, economic and people-to-people ties. Concerns should be addressed in a mutually respectful way consistent with our democratic values,' he said.
