Modi-Trump meet: India will indulge, but not be a walkover

Both the Indian government and Indian businesses will gladly give Trump small-big wins that he can sell to his support base. However, India will not be a walkover.

- SEMU BHATT

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's upcoming visit to Washington, DC, for a meeting with President Donald Trump is significant as it marks a reset in India-US engagement under a more transactional and disruptive, yet less interfering, US administration.

TRUMP 2.0

Trump 2.0 has been highly disruptive from day onewithdrawing from multilateral agencies and commitments, cracking down on the misuse of funds by USAID, imposing tariffs, and even signalling territorial ambitions over the Panama Canal, Canada, Greenland, and the Gaza strip.

In India's context, while Trump personally invited President Xi Jinping to his inauguration, no such public invitation was extended to Prime Minister Modi.

However, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, attending as PM's special envoy, was given a highly prominent rent at the event Trump 2.0's first multilateral engagement was with Quad representatives, and his Secretary of State's first bilateral meeting was with Dr Jaishankar.

Despite Trump repeatedly labelling India as a tariff king and a significant trade abuser, the initial tariff pressure has been directed at China, Canada, and Mexico-not India. However, just days before Modi's scheduled White House visit, US authorities deported 104 Indians who were in the US illegally, and circulated images of them in shackles.

Among them were 33 Gujaratis-directly impacting Modi's image in his home state. Trump also signed a National Security Presidential Memorandum intensifying pressure on Iran, including modifying or rescinding sanctions waivers related to the Chabahar port project, a strategically important venture where India has made significant investments.