India and the US must think big as they rework commercial ties

Tariff friction should not get in the way of exploiting the economic opportunity of closer relations

- SANJAY CHADHA

The US Trade Representative team's talks in Delhi last week with Indian officials can be seen as part of an effort to find a way to avoid President Donald Trump's tariffs on Indian exports that mirror the burden faced by US goods entering India.

The US and India, once tethered to market debates in a transactional context, now navigate a relationship redefined by supply-chain wars, tech supremacy and containment of China.

Their collaboration—and competition—reveals how commerce is being weaponized in the 21st century, with tariffs, sanctions and industrial policy being deployed for strategic ends.

In this milieu, tariffs and retaliatory tariffs are not a zero-sum game; they cause injury all around. In 2019, almond farmers in California's Central Valley watched helplessly as their largest market evaporated overnight. India had just slapped retaliatory tariffs on American almonds and walnuts in response to the US revoking India's preferential trade status under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) programme and imposing additional tariffs on its steel and aluminum. This wasn't just about nuts; it was a calculated geopolitical gambit. The Indian move ended up reducing California's exports by 20%.

Such skirmishes reveal how localized industries become casualties in broader geopolitical gambits.