India has some weighty cards to play in negotiations with Trump

Trump: "You're not in a good position. You don't have the cards right now. With us, you start having cards." Zelensky: "I'm not playing cards. I'm very serious, Mr President. I'm very serious." Trump: "You're playing cards. You're gambling with the lives of millions of people. You're gambling with World War III."

- NITIN PAI

Donald Trump told Volodymyr Zelensky that the latter had no cards no fewer than five times in the last 10 minutes of their infamous meeting at the Oval Office last week. The US President likes to think in terms of cards (both metaphorical ones used for negotiating deals and literal ones to gain permanent residency in the US). As much as I dislike reducing international relations to a game, realism demands that we deal with the world as it is.

India is a swing power between the US and China, and to a lesser extent between the US and Europe. Without overstating the case, India's choice can determine which side feels greater pleasure or pain on several geopolitical and geo-economic issues. Also, we are among the few countries that view closer ties between the US and Russia favorably. If a transactional Trump only recognizes cards and how to leverage them, then India needs to strengthen its hand and play its own cards well.

What might be those cards? Let me list 13 cards of a suit, with a joker to go along with them.

Two: Cooperate on illegal immigration. Let Washington repatriate verified Indian nationals at its expense.

Three: Support the US dollar as the world's reserve currency.

Four: Support the use of Swift as international payments infrastructure.