Saving India-US relationship from Trump & beyond

The relationship between the two countries is longer and deeper than the whims of an individual president

- Barkha Dutt

There was always a feudal warlord element to US President Donald Trump's recent outbursts against India. As he lashed out from behind the protective gear of tariffs and penalties, the US president's rants smacked of the arrogance that only imperialists permit themselves.

Russian oil is a bogey. This is the 2025 version of the East India Company, at least insofar as a colonialist mindset goes. The Americans may not be physically arriving to vanquish India like the British invaders did. But the entitled way with which the Trump administration is talking down to India smacks of the same attitude.

And if you had even the slightest doubt that this was about some genuine disagreement over India's supposed protectionism in farming, dairy and fishing, the language used by Peter Navarro, trade adviser to Trump, should shut that down.

With the use of the phrase "Maharaja tariffs", Navarro has displayed an inherent orientalism and clichéd racism in how the Trump administration views us. What's he going to do next-use the metaphor of snake-charmers? Navarro whose Financial Times op-ed pretty much warned India to pick a side, strategic autonomy be damned has made it all much worse with his newest utterances. He's called India a laundromat for the Kremlin, while it's his boss who laid out the proverbial red carpet for Vladimir Putin at the Alaska Summit just days ago.