What a birthday call said about India-US relations

Many critics of Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi were quick to sound the death knell for the India-US partnership after President Donald Trump, in a characteristically abrupt move, announced steep tariffs of up to 50% on Indian exports.

- Syed Zafar Islam

Commentators rushed to claim that Washington had turned its back on New Delhi. Opponents predicted misery for Indian exporters, pointing out that shipments worth $87 billion had been sold to the American market the previous year. To them, this punitive measure was proof that the relationship was unravelling.

InIslamabad, leaders stooped to flatter, indulging President Trump's ego with talk of Nobel Peace Prizes and making a spectacle of their supposed “new closeness” with Washington. Fora fleeting moment, it seemedas though Pakistan's strategic irrelevance had been forgotten and that India had lost the prized position it had cultivated across successive American administrations.

But PM Modi remained calm in the face of the tariffs, refusing to utter a word of disrespect against the US or its President. Having dealt not just with Trump in his first term but also with Barack Obama and Joe Biden, the PM understood the rhythms of American politics. He knew that India enjoyed rare bipartisan support in Washington, a fact visible during his State visit to the US just over two years ago, when leaders from both parties lauded India’s rise and welcomed PM Modi. The PMalso knew that beneath the turbulence of tariff laya relationship with genuine strategic depth—one that could weather temporary storms.

That depth is not rhetorical. It is anchored in dozens of institutional linkages: From military-to-military cooperation and joint intelligence work, to partnerships between universities, think tanks and research centres. The connections between Silicon Valley and Bengaluru, between the Pentagon and India’s defence establishment and between Wall Street and Mumbai, all mean that the partnership cannot simply be dismantled bya single presidential decision. New Delhi's confidence rested on the fact that while the tariff dispute was temporary, India-US ties are permanent.