Latest news with #Bharat-US
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First Post
3 days ago
- Business
- First Post
Why Trump's 'cowboy' tactics won't work on Bharat—and will hurt American interests
History has long been Trump's blind spot. Bharat has endured—and resisted—the harshest of sanctions, but what stings more are the president's repeated public jabs read more The relationship between two eminent democracies cannot be hijacked by a leader's ego. After all, Bharat-US ties are bigger than Donald Trump. Representational image The Bharat–United States relationship has always been a rollercoaster—one decade up, the next down, and sometimes both in the same decade. But never since the Nixon–Kissinger era have ties been in such chaotic, freefalling disarray. Even during the Bill Clinton years, when Washington imposed sanctions after the 1999 Pokhran nuclear tests, the breach was neither as deep nor the distrust so widespread. Donald Trump's diplomacy—if it can still be called that—has turned 'cowboyish' in the worst sense: erratic, irrational, and impulsive. The latest tariffs on Bharat are a case in point. Washington trades freely with the world's largest buyer of Russian oil, yet it is Delhi that gets slapped with an additional 25 per cent tariff. A leading mobile company is threatened with dire consequences, but when its CEO prostrates himself before Trump, with a 24k gold offering, all's forgiven. An East Asian nation is granted a tariff deal only when it promises to deliver headline-grabbing gifts and concessions to Washington. These are not the signs of a rule-based economy by any stretch of the imagination. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD One can understand why Trump seeks to dismantle the free-trade order the US itself built after World War II. American unease is growing as its economic primacy wavers, especially amid the 'rise of the rest'. The dollar-based system once ensured its dominance; now it shows cracks. In true 'run-with-the-hare, hunt-with-the-hounds' fashion, Washington wants to replace its own system the moment it ceases to serve American interests. But in doing so, the US has pressed the self-destruct button. Its strategic priority should have been to build a coalition against a rising China—the most serious challenger to Pax Americana. Instead, it has alienated potential allies like Bharat and Russia. The blame cannot rest on Trump alone—former President Joe Biden also deepened the rift by pushing Russia further into China's embrace and reportedly backing covert attempts at regime change in Bharat. Many in Delhi hoped these storms would pass with Trump's return to the White House. Sadly, the new president opened new fronts for Bharat. Tariffs and Taunts What has stung Bharat most is not merely Trump's tariffs but his repeated public jabs. He has distorted facts about Kashmir, claimed more than 30 times to have mediated after Operation Sindoor, called Bharat a 'dead economy', and insisted the US does 'very little business' with it. The truth is starkly different. The US is Bharat's largest trading partner for the fourth consecutive year, with bilateral trade in 2024-25 valued at $131.84 billion. Bharat's exports to the US rose 11.6 per cent in the past year to $86.51 billion. Under 'Mission 500', both sides aim to double trade to $500 billion by 2030. Defence trade already exceeds $21 billion, and Bharat is now a major US defence partner. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Trump's 'tariff king' label is equally misleading. Bharat's average applied tariff is about 16 per cent—comparable to Turkey's and lower than Argentina's—with a weighted average of just 4.6 per cent, suggesting a far more open trade regime than he claims. (In fact, Bharat's weighted average compares favourably with the European Union [5 per cent], Vietnam [5.1 per cent], and Indonesia [5.7 per cent].) Nor is Bharat the largest buyer of Russian oil—it ranks second, far behind China's $219.5 billion worth of Russian energy imports since the EU boycott. Yet Beijing faces no comparable tariff penalties. Tellingly, Trump exempted Bharatiya refined fuels from his latest hikes, underscoring the selective and political nature of the sanctions. Bharat's Attempt at a Deal All this while, Delhi did not sit idle. According to Reuters, Bharat offered zero tariffs on industrial goods (40 per cent of US exports to Bharat), phased reductions on cars and alcohol, and increased defence and energy purchases. Most differences were resolved after the fifth negotiation round in Washington, and US negotiators reportedly considered the deal 'done'. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD But Trump wanted more—specifically, a high-profile concession package akin to the one he extracted from South Korea: Seoul secured a 15 per cent rate instead of 25 per cent by offering $350 billion in investments, higher energy imports, and concessions on rice and beef. For Bharat, such demands—touching politically sensitive sectors like farming and dairy—were impossible to meet. Modi, though pro-America, is first and foremost pro-Bharat. He refused to compromise millions of livelihoods for Trump's domestic optics. The rupture is not about tariffs alone. It is about style, respect, and trust. Trump tried to make an example of Bharat, assuming Modi would 'beg' for a deal—a fundamental misreading of both the man and the nation. Many in the country, including this writer, initially believed tariff cuts could benefit Bharat's competitiveness. But tariffs cannot be used as an excuse for coercion or humiliation. Delhi seeks partnership, not subservience. In this, Trump has failed to read history: Bharat has endured—and resisted—the worst of sanctions. It did not bend in the early 1970s when its economy was fragile, nor in the late 1990s when sanctions came not just from America but several others, including Japan. There is no question of retreat in the mid-2020s. The Bharat of 2025 is far stronger and more self-assured than the Bharat of 1971 or 1999. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD But history has always been Trump's blind spot. New World Order The damage extends far beyond bilateral ties. The US and Bharat are the world's oldest and largest democracies. Together, they could have anchored a coalition to defend the liberal world order and balance an increasingly assertive, authoritarian, and hegemonistic China. Alienating Bharat while exempting China from similar penalties undermines Washington's credibility and signals unreliability. That perception could push Delhi towards new alignments—even if some are ideologically unpalatable. The consequences are already visible. Following the imposition of secondary tariffs on Bharat, the Chinese ambassador in Delhi publicly reminded Trump that Bharat's sovereignty was 'non-negotiable'. Soon after, reports emerged that Modi may be visiting China later this month—a first since 2019. At the same time, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval was in Moscow meeting President Vladimir Putin. Meanwhile, countries such as Brazil and South Africa have begun hinting at a shift towards a new world order. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Repairing the breach will require more than a tariff adjustment. It will demand a change in tone, recognition of Bharat as an equal partner, and a willingness to resolve disagreements without public grandstanding. For Washington, this means abandoning the 'my way or the highway' approach and respecting Bharat's domestic political realities. For Delhi, it means being prepared to lower certain tariff walls without sacrificing its core interests. The relationship between two eminent democracies cannot be hijacked by a leader's ego. After all, Bharat-US ties are bigger than Donald Trump. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost's views.
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First Post
02-08-2025
- Business
- First Post
Trump's tariff toolkit: Lose Bharat, strengthen China, shatter Pax Americana
By treating Bharat as a subordinate to be bullied rather than a partner to be engaged, President Trump risks a rupture that could last far beyond his presidency read more America may soon find that the real cost of its tariffs is not measured in dollars but in lost alliances and diminished influence. Image: X/@RepJoeWilson Seven months into his second term, Donald Trump's presidency appears to be entering uncharted waters—even for those who claim to understand his unconventional political playbook. The former real estate mogul built his political brand on unpredictability, disruption, and a refusal to play by traditional rules. Until recently, this approach seemed to have some method in its madness—a calculated chaos designed to keep rivals off balance and extract concessions in negotiations. But Trump's latest tariff moves—especially imposing a 25 per cent tariff on exports from Bharat—have stripped away the façade of methodical unpredictability, exposing what many now see as unrestrained impulsiveness. In the process, Trump risks undoing years of careful, if uneven, progress in Bharat-US relations. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD This is not just another trade dispute. It marks a deeper failure to understand Bharat—not merely as an emerging economic power, but as a civilisational state with a unique worldview and long memory. By treating it as a pawn in a transactional game, Trump risks alienating the one partner that could have helped secure America's long-term strategic interests in a rapidly changing world order. Limits of a Businessman-President Trump's leadership style has always mirrored his business persona. In his worldview, every international relationship is a negotiation—a zero-sum game where one side wins only if the other loses. Deals, concessions, and optics matter more than shared values or historical context. To him, tariffs are tools of power, not just economic instruments. The logic is simple: inflict maximum pressure, force capitulation, and claim victory. In this narrow calculus, Bharat becomes just another 'trading partner' to be coerced into submission. The 25 per cent tariff, therefore, is not only about correcting trade imbalances with Bharat; it is an attempt to showcase American dominance in the relationship. But this approach fundamentally misunderstands Bharat's ethos and foreign policy DNA. Bharat does not conduct diplomacy as a series of business transactions. Its foreign policy is rooted in a civilisational consciousness that values strategic autonomy, mutual respect, and sovereignty above coercive bargaining. Friendship, for Bharat, is never synonymous with subservience. Any attempt to impose terms through brute economic force risks triggering resistance, not compliance—especially in the long term. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD A History of Distrust Washington's discomfort with Bharat's independent streak is hardly new. During the Cold War, successive US administrations grew frustrated with New Delhi's refusal to align fully with the West. Washington often preferred authoritarian or Islamist regimes that were pliable, even unreliable, over a democratic Bharat unwilling to be dictated to. Pakistan's military establishment, for all its instability, was seen as a more 'manageable' partner than Bharat's noisy democracy with its fiercely independent foreign policy. As Seema Sirohi writes in Friends with Benefits, the Bharat-US relationship has been about 'a thousand heartbreaks and a hundred reunions… a story of inching closer, drifting apart, trying again, getting disappointed, developing new stakes in each other, losing interest, recharging batteries, giving it another shot, succeeding partly, celebrating with high rhetoric, hiding disappointment but strategically leaking true feelings while continuously rebranding the relationship as larger, deeper, and wider, and strengthening the foundation.' Since the early 2000s, however, US administrations—starting with George W Bush—consciously reached out to Delhi, recognising its importance in balancing China's rise. Barack Obama, despite ideological differences, continued to invest in US-Bharat ties. Trump's first term continued this trajectory, with high-profile summits and public bonhomie between leaders of the two countries. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Trump's second-term tariff war has brought that optimism to a grinding halt, though one could sense its beginnings during the Joe Biden era. At a time when Washington should be cementing alliances in the Indo-Pacific to counter China's assertiveness, it is instead alienating its most natural partner. Worse, this follows another strategic misstep: alienating Russia through Nato's eastward expansion, thereby pushing Moscow closer to Beijing. With both Russia and Bharat drifting away, America's much-vaunted Indo-Pacific strategy now looks increasingly fragile. Sindoor and Shifting Perception Recent events have further complicated Washington's calculus. Operation Sindoor—a swift and decisive military action by Bharat—demonstrated capabilities that few believed New Delhi possessed. Within three days, Bharat achieved what many believed was impossible against a nuclear-armed adversary. This single event forced both allies and rivals to reassess the country's military transformation. The US had been wary of rising Bharat for a while, but until Op Sindoor, its concern was largely economic—as was the case during the Biden era. Operation Sindoor brought Bharat's military transformation to the forefront. It signalled that the country was no longer just a counterweight to China but a potential independent pole in global geopolitics. This possibility has alarmed a power-driven West accustomed to using Delhi as a pawn in its broader game against Beijing. If Bharat grows too strong—economically and militarily—it will no longer be a tool of American strategy but a peer competitor shaping a multipolar world order. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Trump's tariffs, therefore, can be read as much about 'making America great again' as about slowing Bharat's rise. A $10 trillion Indian economy within a decade, with established military might, would fundamentally alter global power dynamics, giving New Delhi too much leverage for Washington's liking. Yet this approach is self-defeating. Unlike China, which aims to displace the US as global hegemon, Bharat seeks coexistence, not domination. America's inability to embrace this vision of shared power could cost it a valuable ally at a time when its own global leadership is under strain. A Self-Inflicted Strategic Loss Trump's continuing diatribe against Bharat reflects an enduring inability in the United States to accept partners that do not fit into America's hierarchical worldview. Delhi's insistence on a multipolar order, where no single nation dominates, challenges the very foundations of strategic thinking in Washington, DC. Bharat does not pursue anti-Americanism. It does not seek to undermine US power. Rather, its worldview—rooted in Sanatani philosophy—seeks coexistence and plurality, both in socio-spiritual life and in international politics. It envisions a world where multiple civilisations thrive without hegemony. By failing to understand this nuance, Washington repeatedly mistakes Delhi's independence for defiance, leading to cycles of estrangement and reconciliation. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD By treating Bharat as a subordinate to be bullied rather than a partner to be engaged, Trump risks a rupture that could last far beyond his presidency. Bharat does not easily forgive or forget attempts to compromise its sovereignty. And unlike Pakistan or other US client states, it cannot be bought off with aid packages or military hardware. Conclusion Trump's tariff war represents a classic case of winning battles while losing the war. The immediate goal—extracting better trade terms—may or may not be achieved. But the long-term damage to US-Bharat relations is already evident. Trust has been eroded. Doubts about American intentions have resurfaced. With this, Trump has handed Beijing a strategic victory without China firing a single shot. In a world reshaped by rising powers, America may find that the real cost of its tariffs is not measured in dollars but in lost alliances and diminished influence. Trump may, in the short term, earn a few extra dollars for the US, but in the long term, he risks putting the very idea of Pax-Americana on sale. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD China's Xi Jinping must be the only person laughing right now. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost's views.
