Suman K Sharma
s2m2nr@gmail.com
“Us and the US”-the phrase may sound confrontational. But that’s howit is these days between India and America. Donald Trump has blatantly declaredthat he imposes a 50% tariff on the Indian imports to ‘punish’ us for buying oil from Russia. It is as if a grumpy housemaster were chastising a boarder for some serious misconduct. The American president goes on to say that India has a dead economy.Not content with hurling such vituperations against us, he withdrawsthe sanctions waiver he had granted in his earlier term to Iran’s Chabahar port. That port, being developed by India, provides India an alternative route for trade with Afghanistan and Central Asia, bypassing a hostile Pakistan. And then there is this bombshell for technocrats (mainly Indian) who aspire to land in America on the wings of their employment by the American companies. The fee for an H-1B visa having been raised to 1 lakh dollars (Rs 88 lakhs), those companies will be most reluctant to recruit our IITians and the lot. Recently, the US has imposed a 100% tariff on branded and patented pharmaceuticals.
Kid gloves are off
It hurts since the US is our biggest trade partner. During 2024-25, we exported textiles, gems and jewelry, auto parts, and certain food items worth $86.5 billion to it, while imports from that country were worth little over half as much, at $45.3 billion. But then America has been content with such a trade deficit over the years. In the year 2000, for instance, its imports from India were worth $10.7 billion against exports of just $3.7 billion. The US also accuses India of imposing high tariff imposed on its goods. Howard Lutnick said that there is a “need to fix India, stop harming actions that harm US interests.”
Kid gloves are off in Indo-American dealings; it is clear. On 23 September, Foreign Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar met with the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, on the sidelines of UNGA. Later, Rubio posted on X, “Met with Indian external affairs minister Dr. S. Jaishankarat UNGA. We discussed key areas of our bilateral relationship, including trade, energy, pharmaceuticals and critical minerals and more to generate prosperity for India and the United States.” In comparison, Dr. Jaishankar’s tone was more businesslike and devoid of diplomatese. “Agreed,” he posted on X, “on the importance of sustained engagement to progress on priority areas. We will remain in touch.”
A sure sign of America’s distancing from us is its rejuvenated love for our adversary, Pakistan. On 27 September, President Donald Trump met with Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif and Pakistan’s Army Chief Asim Munir in the Oval Office, even though he made them wait for half an hour for the privilege. In the meeting,Trump wore a fighter-jet pin on the lapel of his coat. Thatshow-off could have been made to be seen endorsing Pakistan’s unfounded claim of having downed our fighter planes during Operation Sindoor.
US-a friend, less than a friend
There is nothing new to cooling off the warmth between the two nation-states. India has seen 15 POTUSs (President Of The United States) since the independence-from Harry Truman (1945-1953) to Donald Trump. Barring the terms of George Bush (2001-2009) and Barack Obama (2009-2017), the Indo-American relations have been less than warm. During the Cold War, the Americans were not quite comfortable with Pundit Nehru’s policy of nonalignment. Dean Acheson, American Secretary of State during 1949-1953, said that Nehru was “one of the most difficult men (he had) ever to deal (with).” President John F. Kennedy, widely considered as India’s friend, expressed his gross displeasure on the liberation of Goa in 1961, cutting off the foreign aid to India by 25 percent. During the Chinese aggression the following year, however, his administration did provide us “arms, ammunition and clothing supplies” for the Army, not to mention a belated move to send the USS aircraft carrier KittyHawk to the Indian Ocean to deter the Chinese, though the war had ended by that time. “We should defend India, and therefore we will defend India.” Kennedy had declared.Kennedy’s successor, Lyndon B. Johnson (1963-1969), while trying to maintain relations with India, showed affinity with Pakistan as well. Richard Nixon (1969-1974) drew yet closer to Pakistan, at the cost of the decades-long American policy of maintaining neutrality in Indo-Pak hostilities. During the 1971 War, he sided openly with Pakistan. Our relations improved somewhat with the US during Indira Gandhi’s leadership. And so on. Coming to the present time, President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Modi demonstrated close friendship during the former’s first tenure (2017-2021). Even so, the realities of geopolitics and Trump’s temperament during his second term (commencing Jan 20, 2025) have soured that sweetness. India has rejected Trump’s offer to mediate in its border concerns with China. Again, offers of mediation from both Trump and his vice-president, Vance, were turned down by India following the Pahalgam attack. We have also rejected Trump’s unilateral claim that hostilities under Operation Sindoor ceased because of his intervention. POTUS, not having been able to stomach rejections, has gone out of his way to show his fondness for the Pakistan rulers.Naturally enough, the latter are in the seventh heaven. Uzair Younus, a principal at the Asia Group and host of the podcast ‘Pakistonomy,’ writes in The Diplomat, “For years, New Delhi grew comfortable with a US posture that deferred to Indian preferences. That era is over.”
Finding a place in the sun
Younus is welcome to his jaundiced view. Even if, for argument’s sake, we see through his eyes, the question is, ‘Then what?’ We have weathered America’s blow-hot-and-blow-cold for the better part of a century. We know how to, and we will, stand on our two feet. Trump has given his country the slogan of Make America Great Again (MAGA). Prime Minister Modi too has launched the ‘Make in India Schemeto establish India as a global manufacturing and investment hub, create jobs and enhance the country’s competitiveness.’ All through its existence as a nation-state,we haveassertedour autonomy rather than pandering to the dictates of the US or any foreign power.
We value the US for all that it can do with its 30.5 trillion economy and a matching power over world affairs. But at the end of the day, it is our call to withstand all that bullying and find ourselves a place in the sun. China became a republic barely three months before we did, on 1 Oct, 1949. At that time, we two nations faced almost similar problems of poverty, overpopulation, and the like. In fact, China perhaps had to face a little more. That neighbourof ours today can match the US in its power and pelf. We too seem to be on the right track. In the year 2000, India’s GDP was 476.6 million in US dollars. It has grown nearly ten-fold to 4281.9 million in 2025. We are now the 4th largest economy in the world. There is no doubt that, sooner than later, synergizing the will of 142 plus crores, we too would be in a position to look the US in the eye.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
