Brij Bharddwaj
newsagency12@gmail.com
You need the skill of a magician and vision of a genius to guess in which direction Indo-U.S. relations are moving. The ink had not even dried on the story of trade talks today between India and U.S. on AI and supply chains, when an announcement came from Washington that the U.S. has decided to impose a tariff of 25 per cent on all countries trading with Iran. India, which at present is subjected to a 50 per cent tariff on exports to the U.S., thus will be subjected to a 75 per cent tariff making exports to the U.S. from India almost impossible.
With trade talks continuing to be a distant goal, the freeze in Indo-U.S. relations is likely to continue. The original objection by the U.S to India importing oil is yet to be resolved. In addition there is a bill in the U.S Senate to impose higher tariffs on all countries importing oil from Russia. In such a situation to hope for Indo-U.S. relations improving looks like a long call if not impossible.
More so with current problems of the U.S in Latin America after its action in Venezuela , its conflict with European countries on the issue of Greenland, and volatile west Asia where war is more likely than peace, the U.S will have little time to resolve issues with India. It is also being suggested that with India hosting the BRICS conference where the subject of trading in dollars will come up with most of the countries suggesting moving away from it will not be taken kindly by the U.S.
In addition to trade issues, India is not very happy about the growing relations between the U.S and Pakistan, including the invitations to recently promoted Field Marshal Munir, Chief of Pakistan Army, the U.S promotion of the security pact between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, and the Pakistan army providing men for peace keeping in Gaza have not made New Delhi very happy. As such the posting of a new Ambassador to India who has a direct line to Washington raises hopes but it would not be easy.
One often talks about the relationship between the Indian Prime Minister Narendara Modi and U.S President Donald Trump, but there has been little evidence of it in recent times.
President Trump’s repeated claims that he brought about a truce in the war between India and Pakistan has been denied by India which claimed that it was done on Pakistan’s call. The claim of repeated calls by the Indian Prime Minister to the U.S president on the issue of getting oil from Russia have also irritated India.
As such it looks that Indo-U.S. relations at best will remain in cold storage for the time being and will require a lot of diplomatic repair behind closed doors before any real progress can be made. U.S President Donald Trump is more likely to visit India next year after relations between the two countries have become normal if not close to it.
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