Harsh Pant: India’s White House pushback is necessary but don’t let US ties rupture

As Pakistani generals are feted in Washington and reports emerge of a possible trip to China by Trump via Pakistan sometime soon, cold warriors in Delhi are out in full force, reminding the nation “we told you so."

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It matters little that many of those complaining most vociferously about Trump’s treachery today are the same people who were cheering his victory last year the loudest. Just a few months ago, it was Joe Biden’s deep state that was said to be out to get India and challenge its rise in the global order. Many Indian social-media intellectuals saw in Trump a fellow conservative whose presumptive special friendship with Prime Minister Narendra Modi would deliver India-US ties from all friction. This irrational exuberance over Trump’s win ended with Operation Sindoor, when Indians realized that his self-serving approach to inter-state relations has little strategic coherence.

Despite winning on the battlefield, New Delhi not only lost the strategic communication contest to Pakistan, but also could not massage Trump’s ego to win him over to its side. After that, we have seen a series of unfortunate episodes that stalled the momentum towards a bilateral trade agreement under negotiation since March.

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The more frustrated Trump has felt about India not agreeing to US terms, the more pressure he has piled on India. From Iran and Russia to Pakistan, all issues have been clubbed together in an effort to ratchet up that pressure. But this tactic being deployed through public channels has had the opposite effect. It has limited the space for Indian policymakers to manoeuvre. No democratically elected leader can afford to be seen as buckling under pressure imposed publicly by an American president to sign a deal.

While social media warriors might see this as a good time to gang up against Trump and talk of a potential boycott of the US, Indian policymakers realize the challenge they are facing. New Delhi has been measured in its response to Trump’s shenanigans and trade pact talks with the US are expected to continue as scheduled. This should be the case till such time that India and the US find some common ground on trade, even if Trump keeps the relationship turbulent all through this process. We can talk about making common cause with others, but, like others, we are all alone in this.

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The style and substance of Trump’s demands are so outlandish that New Delhi cannot concede to them. But the search for mutually beneficial outcomes is the surest way to find a resolution. The geopolitical convergence between India and the US has allowed the two nations to weather many a storm in recent years. That argument still remains valid, but Trump is also alerting India to the dangers of trade barriers stifling the country’s potential.

For all our search for global partners, there is no substitute for a strong India-US relationship in our foreign policy matrix. One doesn’t have to be part of any ‘American lobby’ to make this case. Just a basic understanding of Indian challenges should alert us to the dangers of the world’s two most important democracies working at cross purposes.

For all the talk of Brics consolidation in the face of America’s disposition under Trump, Russia is busy reaching out to the US President in Alaska and China has quietly secured an extension of its trade truce with the US for another 90 days. New Delhi is moving to stabilize its ties with Beijing, but this remains of little interest to China, given the fundamental strategic divergence between the two Asian giants.

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Despite the Trump administration’s ‘America First’ policy, the US President in his first term (2017-2021) had built on the India-US momentum created under previous US presidents, recognizing India as a key partner in the Indo-Pacific region and strengthening bilateral defence cooperation through agreements like COMCASA in 2018 to enable secure communication between the two militaries and BECA in 2020 to enhance geospatial intelligence sharing.

Trump also revived the Quad in 2017 and gave it the potency to shape the regional strategic landscape. His second term also began with a sense of optimism—highlighted by Modi’s February 2025 Washington visit, the launch of ‘Mission 500’ that aimed to double bilateral trade to $500 billion by 2030 and the unveiling of the ‘COMPACT for the 21st Century’ designed to enhance defence and technology cooperation.

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The institutional underpinnings of the bilateral relationship remain strong. In the past, a structural convergence between India and the US helped overcome individual idiosyncrasies. But today, the personality of the US leader is overshadowing the underlying logic of this relationship’s potency. Even as New Delhi pushes back against some of the outlandish demands emanating from today’s White House, fighting another Cold War cannot possibly be on its agenda.

The author is professor of international relations, King’s College London, and vice president for studies at Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi.