The Two Indias Facing America For Decades

This isn't the first time New Delhi is facing threats from Washington like the ones being aired. Reactions to the earlier episodes could be instructive for the current one

- K P Nayar

We live in two Indias. They are starkly juxtaposed against each other in situations such as the ongoing tariffs challenge from the US.

Of the two, one India is adept at making a case that this country will fall behind unless it recognizes that Donald Trump is not unreasonable in his demand for balanced trade. This India argues that the Narendra Modi government ought to use Trump's threat of higher tariffs—at least his initial demands—as an opportunity to usher in the next wave of economic reforms. This India also views Trump's tariff imposition as a chance to raise this country's competitiveness in industrial production and other business activities.

The other India is more rooted in the realities of this country, sensitive to the conditions of ordinary Indians. It does not have the tools at its command to make a case that Trump's actions and behavior are symptoms of a deep-rooted malaise. So far at least, Prime Minister Modi has not called the spade in Washington a spade. Lula da Silva, President of Brazil, also facing high tariffs, has said Trump was elected "not to be the emperor of the world". Modi is still hoping for a trade deal and has been advised by his trusted aides not to escalate matters with the volatile and unpredictable White House.

Hidden behind these symptoms is Trump's chronic disease, which India must not overlook. At the root of what Trump is seeking is a haughty and imperial imposition on sovereign nations. This disease is not limited to tariffs. He wants to make Canada the 51st US state, take over the Panama Canal and get Denmark to surrender its autonomous island of Greenland to the US.