K N Pandita
President Trump has imposed his new tariff order on nearly two dozen countries of the world. Big countries like China, India, Brazil et al are among Trump’s list.
What criterion Trump followed in fixing the new scale of tariffs is somewhat unclear. Take the case of India. He imposed 25 % tax on Indian imports. Only a few days later, he changed his order and made it 50 % arguing that India continued to purchase crude oil from Russia and was funding Russia’s war against Ukraine. Hence India deserved to be punished.
Similarly, 50 % tariff has been imposed on the imports from Brazil for the reason of Brazil activating BRICS. About China, Trump says that there is huge trade deficit.
India is the only country which defied Trump’s diktat that India should not buy oil from Russia. India argued that not only India but Europe also was buying gas from Russia. India’s Minister of External Affairs said in a press conference that the US was importing uranium from Russia. The dichotomy in Trumps foreign policy was palpable.
Indian side argued that it was with the consent of Biden administration that India purchased oil from Russia because Biden had opined that India, purchasing the Russian oil could stabilize oil prices world over and Europe in particular.
Trump brushed under carpet this reality of India’s oil purchases from Russia. Many European countries, including Ukraine, have been purchasing oil from India.
When India revealed these realities, Trump brought a new allegation against India. He accused India of laundering Russian money meaning helping Russian Roubles to be converted into US Dollars. And when India asked for the proof, Trump did not respond.
Past two weeks have clearly shown that Trump has taken an open anti-India stance. Commentators wonder why this U-turn? There are personal as well as circumstantial reasons for Trumps flip-flop towards India. It is now known that Trump had offered Modi his mediation in India’s dispute with Pakistan which Modi rejected outright saying that Pakistan should vacate illegal occupation of the part of J&K State. Trump took it an insult to be rejected as a mediator.
Modi rubbed more salt into Trump’s wound. He stated in the parliament that India never asked any country for mediation.
The question is why Trump went on repeating no fewer than 34 times since May 10 that he had mediated between India and Pakistan and that he had averted an impending nuclear flare up in the world and had thus saved lives of millions of people on the earth.
The reality of Trump’s mavericks became known when the Pakistani army chief, whom Trump had invited over private lunch, declared on the American soil that he was proposing the name of Donald Trump for noble peace prize. Trump felt obliged, caring a fig for the honour and dignity of the elected leadership of Pakistan.
Not only that the Pakistani General went to make two more statements while he was still on the soil of the US. In one statement he said that if Pakistan was attacked, Pakistan, in retaliation, would destroy half of the world. In another statement, he said that if need arose Pakistan would bombard India’s Jamnagar oil refinery.
These two statements give a clear clue of what was being talked about by Trump and his sub-continental proxy. It proved that American hegemony was looking for and strengthening its proxies at least in the Asian continent.
The world was watching with deep interest how the United States of America was suppressing the rising voices for rights, dignity and freedom and was bent upon imposing the rule of dictating terms to other nations in other continents.
As early as March this year, President Xi of China had felt that America under Trump was about to adopt a path of imposing American hegemony on other nations of the world. He wrote a confidential letter to the President of India, proposing among other things that India and China should work together to save the world from the revival of imperialist attitude of the US. Xi’s analysis was carefully considered by the Indian leadership and at Kazan where the previous summit of SCO, the two leaders (President Xi and PM Modi) held talks and decided to bring about a drastic change in the world order. The exchange visits of VIPs of both sides started after that.
Heads of the governments of 9 countries participated in the SCO 2025 summit in Tianjin in China. Russia and India were among the crucial members who held meetings on the side-lines of the summit.
Details of the discussion held in its sessions are still poring in. But there are confirmed news that the issue of US” unilateral imposition of tariffs, terrorism, border conflicts, security and many other subjects have been discussed.
President Xi of China hosted a dinner to President Putin and Prime Minister Modi. Political analysts are talking loudly of the emerging alignment among the three big powers of Asian continent. They are reported to have viewed the existing world order and the need of changing it so that smaller nations in Asian, African and Latin American countries can be assured of their security and dignity as important component of world community.
Evidently, the idea of multipolar world is what these like-minded leaders are seriously interested in. At the same time, there is increasing interest among the countries in BRICS concept against which President Trump has been spitting venom.
Though India had till now adopted the policy of not supporting rejection of US dollar as the prime currency for world trade but taking a realistic view of the case, there are indications that India may at the end of the day change its stance.
It has also to be noted that saner elements in the American society do understand that the Trump regime has been hijacked by the deep state and Trump little understand the impact of his wayward foreign policy.
American society is on the horns of dilemma because it finds two opposite ideologies clashing furiously for supremacy and power. The entire issue has been very eloquently and very lucidly analysed by the former President Barak Obama. In an address to the people of America, Obama showered praises on India for defying dictatorial attitude of the Trump administration and warned that the America of the vision of great leaders like George Washington and Abraham Lincoln has to protect the noble ideas and values set before the people of America by them.
It is a shame for the present administration to host such people in the White House as have been directly involved in structuring international terrorism and destruction of precious lives.
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