Importance of Messaging

President Trump is among those world leaders whose habit it is to look at media reports from different countries, principally to check on what is being written about him.

- 

Over the past few days, the front pages of English-language newspapers in India have been filled with reports and commentary that are, to put it mildly, not flattering to the US President. Recently, the lead stories were almost all about India "fighting back" against the tariff "threats" and "blackmail" of the US President. Unsurprisingly, the same day in Washington, Trump signed an Executive Order raising tariffs on most items sourced from India. It is not a secret that President Trump takes everything concerning him personally, and glancing through such headlines would have infuriated him. India clearly needed to be taught a lesson, and it was sought to be made through a hike in tariffs. The hikes set off a flurry of official reactions terming the tariffs "unreasonable", which indeed they were. Given the short fuse of President Trump, the jury is out on whether such public reactions were the best course to follow, or something more anodyne, such as that such an imposition would be discussed with the US side