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The Star
2 days ago
- Business
- The Star
The US will regret throwing India under the bus
US president Donald Trump has thrown India under the bus. After months of affronts and barbs, Washington now treats New Delhi more as foe than friend, undermining a relationship that several American administrations – including Trump's first – tried to strengthen, not least to contain China in the Indo-Pacific. Instead, India will now distance itself from the United States and draw closer to Russia and even China. By diplomatic standards, the deterioration has been abrupt. Contrast the vibe between Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on two occasions this year. In February, Modi visited Trump in the White House, and the pair looked like two populist peas in a pod. Gushing about his MAGA (Make America Great Again) host, Modi pledged to Make India Great Again and promised that 'MAGA plus MIGA becomes a mega partnership.' Fast forward to recent days, as Trump first slapped a draconian tariff of 25% on India, then doubled that to 50% (to take effect later this month) as punishment for India's ongoing imports of Russian oil. 'I don't care what India does with Russia,' Trump taunted. 'They can take their dead economies down together, for all I care.' (India's economy is in fact booming.) Nothing about this sounds mega. Trump's ire against India is 'mystifying' and 'shortsighted,' Lisa Curtis at the Center for a New American Security said. She's worked for almost three decades to deepen the relationship between the US and India, most recently on the National Security Council in Trump's first term. Like his Democratic predecessor and successor, Trump at that time also wanted to enlist the world's most populous democracy as an ally to help resist the looming autocratic axis of China and Russia. During the Cold War, India remained proudly 'non-aligned' but bought its weapons mainly from Moscow, whereas its arch-rival, Pakistan, mostly used American arms. In recent decades, though, these relationships inverted, with India nowadays buying more military kit from the US and other Western countries than from Russia, and Pakistan getting more weapons from China than the US. Other bonds between the US and India have also been thriving – just think of the Desi diasporas in Silicon Valley or academia, or the vice president's in-laws. America and Curtis, had especially high hopes for a budding quasi-alliance among the US, India, Australia and Japan. Called the Quad, it seeks to deepen cooperation in the Indo-Pacific to manage and protect maritime commerce, undersea cables, critical minerals and much else. It never prevented India from also maintaining ties with Russia and China – within the so-called BRICS format, notably. But Washington envisioned the Quad evolving into another of America's 'minilateral' alliances for mutual defence in Asia, with China in the role of bogey. Events are taking a different turn. In May, a terrorist attack in Kashmir sparked the latest clash between India and Pakistan. Worried about escalation between the two nuclear powers, the Trump administration urged both sides to stand down, which they eventually did. Then the narratives diverged. Trump repeatedly claimed full credit for being a peacemaker, even suggesting that he threatened India to make it climb down. Modi, and many Indians, were shocked. In previous crises, the US also calmed tempers behind the scenes, but India has always rejected official third-party mediation in its conflict with Pakistan. Now Modi felt humiliated. His government took the unusual step of publishing the minutes of a call between Trump and Modi, clarifying that 'at no point' was there any mediation by the US and that the ceasefire discussions 'took place directly between India and Pakistan.' Other Indian pundits were less diplomatic and almost poetic in their outrage over this 'typical Trump overreach.' Trump wasn't pleased. He was all the more delighted, though, when Pakistan praised his peacemaking prowess and hinted that it would nominate the president for the Nobel Peace Prize he openly covets. Trump then hosted Pakistan's top military official – whom India considers the mastermind of the recent terrorist attack – for lunch, and Pakistan promptly made the Nobel nomination official. Subsequently, Pakistan also bargained down the new American tariffs on its goods from 29% to 19% – relatively meek next to India's rate. None of this means that the US -Indian relationship is irredeemably broken. Trade negotiators are slated to meet again this month, and a deal remains conceivable. Still, Indians have taken note that Trump is cracking down hardest against India, a putative partner, for buying oil from Russia, and not on China, allegedly America's main adversary, which imports even more Russian oil. Nor are they thrilled about the surging deportations of Indians illegally in the US, the harassment of Indian (and all foreign) students on American campuses, and much else. The Quad, meanwhile, still exists. Its foreign ministers met just the other day, and India will host a summit of the four leaders this fall. But Trump's attendance is now in doubt. 'If the rhetoric remains acerbic, I have difficulty in seeing him going,' Curtis told me. His former rapport with the Indian leader is gone, she added: 'Prime Minister Modi is just not going to trust President Trump anymore.' That doesn't mean Modi will throw himself into the arms of Beijing – as my colleague Karishma Vaswani points out, India has other friends in Asia to help it keep an eye on China. But Modi is suddenly making plans to visit China for the first time in seven years, in what appears to be a diplomatic thaw. Meanwhile, the Russian president is arranging a trip to see Modi. America's strategy for more than a decade has been to pull India closer into the Western and democratic orbit as a counterweight to its main autocratic rivals and adversaries. Whether the result of design, neglect or whim, Washington's turn away from New Delhi cannot be seen as anything other than counterproductive. —Bloomberg Opinion/TNS
NZ Herald
07-08-2025
- Business
- NZ Herald
Trump's tariff moves suggest Indian and US co-operation over China can no-longer be counted on
Until that point, his Administration had been angling to reduce India's trade barriers but said nothing about its two years of buying Russian oil at a wartime discount. Before the shock of Trump's announcement in April of sweeping global tariffs, the world's two largest democracies seemed to be enjoying the friendship that its leaders had forged. At a meeting with Trump at the White House in February, India's Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, described India's intention to become one of the world's most advanced economies, with the US as a partner. 'In the language of America, it's 'Make India Great Again' — Miga,' he said. 'When America and India work together, this Maga plus Miga becomes a 'mega partnership for prosperity.'' Trump smiled. Left unmentioned but lingering just out of sight was China, the only country with a population to rival India's and an economy to stand in its way. China is also far and away America's most important economic competitor. Together, the US and India were seen as ready to use each other to try to restrain China's might. Total trade between the US and India was roughly US$130 billion last year. India's top exports to America include pharmaceuticals, auto parts, electrical goods, and gemstones. Modi's confidence in enlisting the US in its economic rise was well grounded. US administrations have been courting India as a geopolitical ally for more than a quarter of a century, since India announced its nuclear arsenal as a deterrent, it said, to China. And American dollars have poured into India as China's economy has matured and become more assertive. The Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine were the catalysts for a surge in investment. Multinational companies grew excited about doing business in India, to reduce the risk of exposure to China as it girds for a trade war with the US and possibly a real war with Taiwan. Manufacturing and professional services led the way. Wall Street followed, banking on the future growth of India, with its relatively young population and enviable political stability. But over the past week, Trump's escalating attacks on India have suddenly undermined this joint venture and sent reverberations throughout the business worlds of both countries. Today, an executive order by Trump said that India would face an extra 25% tariff starting on August 27 if it continued to buy oil from Russia. That levy on Indian goods imported into the US would come on top of a 25% tariff Trump announced last week, which is set to take effect tomorrow and on its own ranks as one of the highest rates in Asia. India's Foreign Ministry responded to Trump's executive order, reiterating that the country's motives for importing oil from Russia were tied to the energy needs of its 1.4 billion people. It was 'extremely unfortunate that the US should choose to impose additional tariffs on India for actions that several other countries are also taking in their own national interest,' the ministry's statement said. Indian officials had signalled over the weekend that they did not intend to stop buying Russian oil. With his tariff threats, Trump has thrown months of trade talks between both countries into question. Just a couple of weeks ago, negotiators and business leaders sounded upbeat. Even with some difficult details to be settled, the expectation was that India and the US mean too much to each other to let a global trade war tear them apart. US President Donald Trump with Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, on February 13. With threats of tariffs up to 50%, Trump seems to be scrapping America's plan to turn India into a counterweight to China, declaring instead that it was a 'dead economy'. Photo / Eric Lee, The New York Times Modi was one of the first world leaders to visit Trump in Washington after he returned to the White House in January. The two men had long shared what was by all appearances a close relationship. As political leaders, both are regarded as strongmen. The US was earlier wary of Modi, who had been denied a visa to the US on the grounds that he played a role in the deadly anti-Muslim riots in 2002. But he was embraced when he became Prime Minister in 2014. Part of the calculation was based on security and the possible future of military alliances across Asia. Yet, India's attractive qualities as a partner in defence always hinged on the promise of its economy. Companies such as Apple have poured billions into India, which in 2023 eclipsed China in population, with eyes on India's domestic market and its capacity to export manufactured goods to the US and elsewhere. Those investments were supposed to be better than profitable; they were supposed to reduce or eliminate everyone's dependence on China to be the factory of the world. The 25% tariff alone, already much higher than those imposed on Asian competitors including Vietnam, Japan, and South Korea, would reduce the viability of such a trade. A 50% tariff would kill it. Yesterday, Trump took aim at two other industries that were explicitly being developed in India as an alternative to China. Pharmaceuticals, where India has world-beating advantages and sells more than US$10b a year to the US, is to face a special tariff that could eventually reach 250%, Trump said, to be announced 'within a week or so'. Eli Lilly, as one of many American corporations that have invested in India, for example, recently invested US$3b in an Indian factory. India makes nearly 40% of the generic drugs bought in the US. Trump's plan is to bring back manufacturing to the US, which is also the reason he has given for imposing another special tariff on semiconductors. Unfortunately for Indian and American companies, and some in East Asia too, everyone has been spending to make India competitive in this sector. Micron, based in Idaho, has taken advantage of Indian government subsidies to put US$2.5b into building chipmaking facilities in Modi's home state of Gujarat. High finance has also followed brick-and-mortar businesses. The Indian stock market has been on a bull run, finding enthusiastic new buyers among middle-class Indians. That made foreign investors eager for private deals. Stephen Schwarzman, chief executive of Blackstone, a New York investment firm, said this year that it was putting US$11b into Indian data centres to fuel the global artificial intelligence boom. A Mumbai-based investment professional, who was not authorised to speak publicly, said there was much more at stake in these investments than their dollar value. Bets like Blackstone's are about the future of business between India, China, and the US, he said, and bring expertise from one economy to another. India was benefitting from that. But now it looks like a vulnerability. The rupture of the relationship has generated huge uncertainty. Who wants to be responsible for making the next big bet? Some parts of the US-Indian equation look relatively secure. The trade in goods between the two countries has never been as important to their economic relationship as their trade in services and other people-to-people exchanges. Indians are just as present in American boardrooms as American-trained Indians are in Mumbai's corner offices. One aspect of this exchange, the proliferation of globally integrated, high-end offices in India — first in information technology and then across the professions — has remained a bright spot. Worth US$65b last year, it is more valuable than the total trade deficit in goods. China does not hold a candle to India's ability as a hub for office work other countries send its way. As frightening as the new tariffs are for many Indian factories, most American investors who have built stakes in India are not yet fleeing. They do, however, remember what happened in 2020, when India and China traded blows at their border and 24 soldiers were killed. Almost overnight, Chinese companies were forced to ditch their Indian investments at a loss. A war of words and tariffs is different, of course. However, Indian and American co-operation around China is no longer something that anyone can count on. This article originally appeared in The New York Times. Written by: Alex Travelli Photographs by: Saumya Khandelwal, Eric Lee ©2025 THE NEW YORK TIMES
Time of India
31-07-2025
- Business
- Time of India
'Big blow': Chidambaram's jibe at PM Modi after Trump's 25% tariff move; asks what happened to MIGA + MAGA?
NEW DELHI: Senior Congress leader and former home minister P Chidambaram slammed the Centre after US President Donald Trump announced a 25% tariff on imports from India, saying that 'Dosti' is no substitute for diplomacy and painstaking negotiations. Taking a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ambitious pitch combining 'Make India Great Again' (MIGA) with Trump's 'Make America Great Again' (MAGA) to form a so-called 'MEGA' partnership, Chidambaram questioned, 'What happened to MIGA + MAGA = MEGA?' In a post on X, Chidambaram said, "The 25 per cent tariff on all Indian exports to the United States PLUS penalty for buying Russian oil is a big blow to India's trade with the U.S. 'Dosti' is no substitute for diplomacy and painstaking negotiations The tariff imposed by the U.S. is a clear violation of the WTO rules What happened to MIGA + MAGA = MEGA?" 'Tareef hi tareef mein tariff lag gaya' Trump's 25%tariff announcement has stirred the row in India. Congress took a big 'blackmail' charge on the United States over the tariff, saying "tareef hi tareef mein tariff lag gaya." Congress MP Jairam Ramesh questioned over India-US friendship and reiterated his 'Operation Sindoor' jab. "This is a huge setback to PM Modi and hi tareef mein tariff lag were no gains from Howdy Modi and Namaste Trump... President Trump has stated 30 times that he halted Operation Sindoor. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like How Much Does It Cost to Rent a Private Jet - The Prices May Surprise You! Private Jet I Search Ads Learn More Undo So what did we get from this (India-US) friendship? The country is still questioning why Operation Sindoor was suddenly stopped. This is a huge setback for our country, our economy and the PM. The PM should not be scared. This is blackmail by the is a time of trouble for us. This will impact our engineering, pharmaceuticals, and business industries. This is a huge challenge before us. We used to think there were two big challenges before us - Pakistan and China, but the US has emerged as the third big trouble," the Congress leader said while talking to ANI. US announces 25% tariff on India Trump, in a post on Truth Social announced that India will pay 25 per cent tariff from August 1 'plus penalty' for buying Russian oil and military arms. The move came just a day after officials announced that a US trade delegation would visit New Delhi on August 25 for the sixth round of negotiations toward a bilateral trade deal. However, Centre hit back at Trump's announcement and said it "has taken note of a statement by the US President on bilateral trade and the government is studying its implications." "India and the US have been engaged in negotiations on concluding a fair, balanced and mutually beneficial bilateral trade agreement over the last few months. We remain committed to that objective. The government attaches the utmost importance to protecting and promoting the welfare of our farmers, entrepreneurs, and MSMEs. The government will take all steps necessary to secure our national interest, as has been the case with other trade agreements including the latest Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement with the UK," the statement said.
Indian Express
01-06-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
P Chidambaram writes: That's the way the cookie crumbles
In October 2024, Candidate Donald Trump said in an interview, 'Prime Minister Modi is the nicest human being and a total killer.' Visiting President Donald Trump in February 2025, Mr Modi said 'our vision for a developed India is to Make India Great Again or MIGA. When America and India work together, that is when it is MAGA plus MIGA, it becomes MEGA — a mega partnership for prosperity.' The two leaders exhibited the gravitas of brash school boys. Where are the dosti and bonhomie? I gather that Mr Modi and Mr Trump have not spoken to each other since May 7, 2025. The most that we know is that Vice-President J D Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke to Mr Modi on the night of May 9 and urged him to stop the war. Mr Trump alluded to such conversation(s) when he posted on Truth Social that 'After a long night of talks mediated by the United States, I am pleased to announce that India and Pakistan have agreed to a full and immediate ceasefire.' That announcement at 5.25 pm on May 10 rudely awakened Indians to the reality. Mr Trump was not bluffing. The cease-fire had been agreed at 3.35 pm and had come into effect at 5.00 pm on May 10, 2025. An unsmiling Foreign Secretary confirmed the facts at 6 pm. I think it is important to explore more deeply how America claimed that it had mediated (if not muscled) a cease-fire, and why. There are many plausible reasons: 🔴 Vice-President Vance conveyed 'alarming intel' to Mr Modi on the evening of May 9. The alarming intel could only have been the threat of use of nuclear weapons by Pakistan or the role of China. Both the prime minister and the defence minister have said India will not submit to 'nuclear blackmail': why was that phrase used if there was no such threat? 🔴 On the role of China, it is absolutely clear that China had allowed Pakistan to use Chinese aircraft (J-10) and Chinese missiles (PL-15). They could not have been used without Chinese inputs and Chinese presence in Pakistan Air Force's Command Centres. (India neutralised them and repulsed the attacks.) 🔴 Two websites — and — have carried reports that Colonel-rank Pakistan Army officers had been posted in Chinese PLA's Western and Southern Theatre Commands and in the Joint Staff Command of the Central Military Commission. Chinese battlefield guidance was obviously in play. 🔴 Pakistan claimed that it had used China-made hypersonic missiles to target India's S-400 air defence system. China's official news agency Xinhua described it as the 'dawn of a new era in warfare'. (At Adampur airbase, the air defence system was intact.) Look at the four-day war and its twisted course. On May 7, India entered the era of algorithm-driven wars. No soldier crossed the land border or Line of Control. No aircraft entered the rival's airspace. The main weapons were missiles and armed drones. India had the first-mover advantage and punished Pakistan severely between May 7 and 9. At that moment of triumph, Mr Trump intervened to end the war. He cast aside his friendship with the 'nicest human being' and bullied India to stop the war. Brushing aside India's discreet protests, Mr Trump publicly claimed during his visits to Saudi Arabia and Qatar that it was his mediation and the threat of 'no trade' that brought the war to an end. It is becoming clearer by the day that the Trump family's commercial interests were the moving force behind Mr Trump's intervention. The Trump family's crypto currency firm, World Liberty Financial (WLF), had negotiated with Pakistan, met Pakistan's prime minister and army chief, and signed a deal with Pakistan Crypto Council on April 26 — barely four days after the Pahalgam terror attack. As the war intensified, Mr Trump abandoned his initial 'hands off' approach. Frenetic activity began after May 7 and concluded with Mr Trump having the last word, as he claimed. Despite the dosti, America deported Indian 'illegal' immigrants in handcuffs and leg chains. Not a word of protest from the prime minister. Steep tariffs were imposed on imports from India; not a word. The US voted in favour of IMF's loan to Pakistan; not a word. Foreign students, including Indians, were barred from Harvard University; not a word. Indian students face the threat of revocation of their visas; not a word. Student visa interviews have been suspended; not a word. The dosti lies in a shambles. The Prime Minister of India is no longer dealing with the President of the United States. Mr Modi is dealing with the head of a family that owns the multi-million dollar WLF which has concluded a commercial deal with Pakistan. He is dealing with a businessperson who will not hesitate to use the cloak, armour, resources and power of POTUS. Despite the political support within India to Operation Sindoor and despite his strong words, Mr Modi is truly stumped by the behaviour of Mr Trump. Pakistan is no longer a push over: it has China's military support and America's diplomatic support. India has to go back to the drawing board to re-draw its military strategy. India has also to go back to the drawing board to re-draw its America policy.
Time of India
01-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
100 days of Donald Trump: How India has managed US-India ties amid tariffs, trade war & immigration crackdown
The first 100 days of Donald Trump 's second term in the White House have been nothing short of transformative for US-India relations, reshaping the strategic and economic landscape between the world's two largest democracies with unprecedented intensity and ambition. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Following his unprecedent return, Trump unleashed a torrent of executive actions - 140 orders in just over three months -signaling a bold, aggressive approach to governance that has directly influenced the trajectory of US-India ties. PM Modi's visit to Washington Prime Minister Narendra Modi's landmark visit to Washington in February became a defining moment for the tectonic shift in US-India ties, cementing a "COMPACT for the 21st Century" that PM Modi described as a partnership built on "TRUST-Transforming Relationship Utilizing Strategic Technology". Capturing the spirit of this renewed alliance, PM Modi had announced: "When America's MAGA [Make America Great Again] meets India's MIGA [Make India Great Again], it creates a MEGA partnership for prosperity." Trade and tariffs The bilateral talks in February between Trump and PM Modi summit delivered concrete outcomes: A shared vision to double bilateral trade to $500 billion by 2030, an ambitious "Mission 500" that aims to rewrite the rules of engagement between the two economies. Trade has been a central theme in Trump 2.0's engagement with India. Trump, known for his hardline stance on trade, announced a reciprocal tariff policy targeting India's high tariffs, stating that the US will "charge as much as India charges", a move designed to level the playing field and protect American interests. Despite this tough posture, Trump hailed PM Modi as "doing a great job" and emphasised their "great friendship", underscoring a relationship that transcends transactional diplomacy. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now The administration imposed a 26% reciprocal tariff on Indian goods, targeting sectors such as steel, aluminum, and auto parts, while exempting pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, and energy products. This move aimed to protect US manufacturing and address perceived unfair trade practices by India. India responded by reducing tariffs on some imports to preempt harsher US tariff measures. Despite the tariffs, experts suggest India's exposure is relatively limited since most US exports to India face low import taxes. The Trump administration's directive to impose reciprocal tariffs on trading partners created pressure but also opened the door for negotiations. By late April 2025, the US and India agreed on the Terms of Reference for a Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA), setting negotiation tracks for goods, services, digital commerce, and intellectual property protections. India offered to reduce tariffs on approximately $23 billion of US agricultural imports, while the US sought better access for manufactured goods, pharmaceuticals, and IT services. Both sides aimed to finalise the first phase of the deal by end of this year, with a goal to double bilateral trade to $500 billion by 2030. An important feature under discussion is India's potential offer of a 'forward most-favoured-nation' clause, which would grant the US any more favorable tariff terms India might extend to other countries, effectively future-proofing the agreement. Immigration crackdown Immigration remains a complex issue in Trump 2.0's India policy. While the administration has cracked down on illegal immigration, it supports legal pathways for Indian students and professionals. Approximately 3,50,000 Indian students currently study in the US, and the administration's support for green cards for international students is a positive sign. The Trump administration has intensified efforts to deport undocumented Indians, estimated at around 7,25,000, with about 20,000 already identified for repatriation. This crackdown has sparked controversy in India. The Cente has committed to legal immigration and cooperating on repatriation, and the issue was a key topic during PM Modi's and Trump's discussions in February. To address illegal immigration, both countries have agreed to combat trafficking networks exploiting Indian citizens seeking unauthorised entry into the US. Enhancements in visa processing, including opening new consulates in Bangalore and Ahmedabad, are planned to reduce visa wait times and curb illegal migration. VP JD Vance's visit JD Vance's visit to India from April 21–24, 2025, marked the first US vice-presidential visit in 12 years, underscoring the importance of the bilateral relationship. His trip coincided with a 90-day pause on US tariffs, providing a window for intensive trade talks. Vance's meetings with PM Modi and external affairs minister S. Jaishankar focused on finalising trade negotiation terms, expanding defense and technology collaborations, and reinforcing India's role in the shared Indo-Pacific vision. Defence cooperation Defense partnership has also reached new heights. The leaders committed to a decade-long framework to deepen military collaboration, with Trump offering advanced fighter jets and PM Modi affirming joint development, production, and technology transfer. Highlighting the strategic convergence amid Indo-Pacific security challenges, PM Modi said: "India's defense preparedness is crucial, and America plays a vital role in this." Trump's second term has continued to emphasise India's role as a critical partner in the Indo-Pacific strategy, particularly in counterbalancing China's growing influence. The administration has reinforced its commitment to the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QUAD), which includes the US, India, Japan, and Australia, focusing on regional security and economic cooperation. This alignment reflects a shared interest in maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific, with India's strategic autonomy respected by the Trump administration, which avoids interference in India's internal affairs-a departure from the more vocal approach of some Democratic lawmakers. The Trump administration's approach to terrorism and radicalism also finds common ground with India, especially in light of recent terrorist incidents in the US and India's long-standing battle against terrorism. This shared concern has paved the way for enhanced counterterrorism cooperation between the two nations. Pahalgam attack The period was also marked by heightened regional tensions following the deadly Pahalgam terror attack on April 22, which targeted 26 tourists and was linked to Pakistan-based terrorist proxies. Following the Pahalgam terror attack in Kashmir, the Trump administration took a firm stance supporting India's right to combat terrorism and maintain regional stability. The US underscored its commitment to working with India to counter terrorism emanating from Pakistan-based groups, signaling a tougher approach towards Pakistan compared to previous administrations. A US spokesperson emphasised, 'The United States encourages all parties to work together towards a responsible resolution,' while reaffirming strong support for India's fight against terrorism. PM Modi, addressing the nation, declared, 'There is deep anguish in my heart... terrorists aimed to destabilize the region's growing prosperity and peace,' promising severe consequences for the perpetrators. This shift reflects the broader strategic realignment in South Asia, with the US increasingly viewing India as a key partner in promoting peace and security in the region. The enhanced Indo-US cooperation on counterterrorism is expected to strengthen India's position as a regional leader and contribute to stability in South Asia. Ties tested but unshaken Despite the turbulence in global trade and security, US-India ties have remained on an 'even keel,' with New Delhi skillfully navigating the complexities of tariffs, immigration, and defense cooperation under Trump's assertive second term. The relationship now stands as a pillar of stability and shared democratic values in an increasingly volatile world order.
