Endless Drift

Over the past two decades, India has focused on forging a strong alliance with the United States, aiming to secure its place as a counterweight to China in the region.

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This strategy has now hit a wall, thanks to the troubled personal ties of Prime Minister Modi with PoTUS Donald Trump. New Delhi’s failure to secure a trade deal with an aggressive Trump administration has attracted sweeping tariffs of 50 per cent, including a 25 per cent duty as punishment for buying Russian oil, that are poised to severely impact India’s economy as the US remains the country’s largest exports market pegged at $86.5 billion. Add to this Trump’s insulting remarks on India’s “dead economy” and his aides’ persistent claims that New Delhi is financing Russia’s war machine in Ukraine have all contributed in damaging India. As matters stand, the feud seems to have reached a point of no return with recent reports indicating that Trump has even cancelled his proposed India visit scheduled for later this year.

This cold shouldering from America has prompted New Delhi to pivot its foreign policy, forcing it to reengage with Beijing. The mounting pressure from the US and the broader West has forced India to pursue a diplomatic thaw with China despite five years of strained ties which started in Doklam followed by the deadly Galwan clash where the Chinese military clubbed and stoned 20 Indian soldiers to death in June 2020 at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.