For Trump, India's the easiest target to find leverage against Putin

AN STRUMPF, SHRUTI SRIVASTAVA, PHILIP J. EIJMANS & RUCHI BHATIA

- AN STRUMPF, SHRUTI SRIVASTAVA, PHILIP J. EIJMANS & RUCHI BHATIA

President Donald Trump's barrage against India over the last 24 hours amounts to one of the strongest attacks yet on a burgeoning security partner against China. For years, India has been able to maintain friendly ties with Russia and skirt American sanctions by positioning itself as a geopolitical counterweight against the Communist Party, the predominant challenger to US global dominance. Now Trump is pressuring Modi to pick a side.

"Trump's causing a lot of trouble for Modi," said Derek Grossman, a former US intelligence official who is now a professor of international relations at the University of Southern California. "A lot of damage has been done today, more than at any time I can remember," he added. "I'm not saying that the relationship is going to collapse or anything like that. It'll persist, but I feel like India will be far more circumspect in dealing with America from this point forward." For Modi, Trump's attacks show just how much the relationship has spiraled since the leaders met at the White House in February. Back then, Modi sought to flatter Trump by saying he was similarly aiming to "make India great again." He said the two sides aimed to double trade by 2030 and conclude a trade deal "very soon."

Six months later, it's all going wrong for Modi. India's opposition is assailing him over Trump's claims of brokering a ceasefire with Pakistan in May by threatening both nations on trade. China is also pressuring companies to avoid moving staff and technology to India to help its manufacturing center as Apple Inc. builds more iPhones in the country. And now Modi is taking heat directly from Trump, an ideological ally on the right who was seen as the better option in New Delhi when he won back the White House last year.