India had been one of nations to project its confidence in US President Donald Trump’s second stint in the Oval Office. However, that optimism has turned on its head. In a fresh social media post, Donald Trump, frustrated by the lack of progress in the India-US trade talks, called the Indian economy “dead”.
The trade talks have taken longer than expected, with New Delhi resisting the demands of Washington. Trump said India will face a 25 per cent tariff come August 1, even as further rounds of talks are scheduled in August-end.
National security and Indo-Pacific analyst Derek J Grossman called the plunge in the India-US ties the worst since New Delhi tested the nuclear weapons in 1998. “Today was the worst day in US-India relations since New Delhi tested nuclear weapons in May 1998,” said Grossman.
In a subsequent tweet, Grossman said, “Trump’s verbal assault of India continues. Like I said, worst day in the US-India strategic partnership since May 1998.”
Grossman was referring to Trump’s post on Thursday: “I don’t care what India does with Russia. They can take their dead economies down together, for all I care. We have done very little business with India, their tariffs are too high, among the highest in the world. Likewise, Russia and the USA do almost no business together. Let’s keep it that way, and tell Medvedev, the failed former President of Russia, who thinks he’s still President, to watch his words. He’s entering very dangerous territory!”
Reiterating Grossman’s assessment, author and IPR attorney, Navroop Singh, said, “25 years of progress is being undone! Donald Trump is causing damage to America’s foreign policy, rupturing ties with the world’s largest democracy and 4th largest economy.”
South Asia analyst and foreign policy expert Michael Kugelman said, “New Delhi had projected confidence and optimism about ties with the US as Trump prepared to return to power. Makes sense; they were solid during Trump 1.0. And yet, few countries’ relations with Washington have been as deleteriously affected by Trump’s truculent transactionalism as India’s.”
After the 25 per cent tariff threat and before the “dead economies” jibe, Trump had confirmed that negotiations with India on trade were still ongoing. The tariff rate singles out India more than other major trading partners and could undo months of talks between the two countries. This may affect the strategic partnership between Washington and New Delhi, which also serves as a counterbalance to China.
Trump initially blamed it all on India’s purchase of Russian arms and oil, as well as its “obnoxious non-monetary Trade Barriers,” in a post on the Truth Social platform. Later at the White House, he said the penalty was partly due to trade issues and partly because of India’s participation in the BRICS group, which he described as hostile to the US.
