NEW DELHI (AP) – Men shared a bear embrace and were praised for each other and appeared side by side at the stadium rally. They were each called good friends.
In India, the bonhomie between the prime ministers Narendra Modi US President Donald Trump It was considered an unparalleled relationship. That is until a series of events drive the work.
Trump’s tariffs and India’s purchase of oil from Russia to a leaning towards the US Pakistanthe friction between New Delhi and Washington is hard to overlook. And much of it has come a long way from the hallways of power, and of course it happened through Trump’s posts on social media.
Despite Trump’s stopping directly referring to Modi on social media, he left policy experts wondering whether the camaraderie shared by the two leaders is a thing of the past. Some say that they have strategic bilateral relationships built up at risk for decades.
“This is time for the relationship testing,” said Ashok Malik, former policy advisor to India’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The White House did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
Chilling tensions over trade and tariffs
The latest issue between India and the US came last week when Trump slapped a 25% tariff in India and announced it was an unspecified penalty for India’s purchase of Russian oil. For New Delhi, such a move from its biggest trading partner is expected to be felt across the sector, but it also sparked anxieties in India.
Trump’s recent statement reflects his dissatisfaction with the pace of trade talks with India, according to White House officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to explain internal management thinking. The Republican president, according to officials, has not pursued a strategic restructuring with Pakistan, but is instead trying to play hardball in negotiations.
Trump doubled the pressure on Monday, doubling it with fresh posts on true social, where he accused India of “a massive amount” of oil from Russia and “selling it in the open market for great profits.”
“They don’t care how many people in Ukraine are being killed by Russian war machines. For this reason, I will effectively raise the tariffs that India has paid to the US,” he said.
The message appears to have stabbed Modi’s administration. It has sold fierce trade deals with Trump’s teams by balancing the country’s markets to more American goods, balancing the Indian protection systems.
Many expected India to respond strongly to Modi’s reputation for carefully crafted strength. Instead, the announcement prompted a rather cautious response from India’s Minister of Commerce, Piyush Goyal. India’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has also proposed all sorts of tensions.
But a New Delhi expert.
“The intense, uninterrupted, bipartisan efforts in both capitals over the past 25 years are at risk not only by tariffs, but also by fast and lax statements and social media posts,” said Malik, who currently heads the Indian chapter of Asia Group, a US advisory firm.
Malik also said the trade contracts provided by the Indian side to the US were “the vastest in the country’s history,” referring to reports that India is willing to open it to some American produce. It is a politically sensitive issue for Modi, who faced a year-long peasant protest several years ago.
Trump appears to be leaning towards Pakistan
The clarification may have gained momentum over the tariffs, but tensions have been evident for a while. Many of them have to do with Trump approaching Pakistan, a nuclear rival in neighbouring India.
In May, India and Pakistan traded a series of military strikes over the Kashmir gun massacre that New Delhi had condemned Islamabad. Pakistan denied the charges. The four-day conflict could make a nuclear fire between the two sides appear real, and combat only halted when the forces of the world intervened.
But it was Trump’s arbitration claim and an offer to work to provide a “solution” to the conflict over Kashmir that has unsettled Modi’s administration. Since then, Trump has mediated peace between India and Pakistan almost 20 times.
For Modi, it is a dangerous, even nervous territory. Domestic, he holds a tough leadership position in Pakistan. Internationally, he has made great diplomatic efforts to isolate the country. Therefore, Trump’s claims cut deep wounds, prompting a sense that in India the US may no longer be a strategic partner.
India claims that Kashmir was an internal issue in India and was opposed to third-party intervention. Last week, Modi appeared to have dismissed Trump’s claim after India’s opposition began demanding answers from him. Modi said the battle between India and Pakistan “the countries of the world did not stop,” but he did not name it Trump.
Trump also appears to be warming up in Pakistan, and even praises its counterterrorism efforts. Hours after collecting tariffs in India, Trump announced a “large” oil exploration agreement with Pakistan, saying that one day India may have to buy oil from Islamabad. Previously, he also hosted one of Pakistani top military officials at a private lunch.
Sreeram Sundar Chauliaexperts at Jindal School of International Affairs in New Delhi said Trump’s sudden praise for Pakistan as a great partner in counterterrorism “definitely exacerbated” India’s mood.
“The best scenario is that this is just Trump’s whim,” Chaulia warned, but that “if financial and energy transactions are actually hit between the US and Pakistan, it will cease the US-India strategic partnership and lead to a loss of US confidence in the Indian eyes.”
Buying Indian oil from Russia is a stimulant
The tension in relations has to do with oil as well.
India faced strong pressure from the Biden administration to cut oil purchases from Moscow for the early months of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Instead, India bought more, becoming the second largest buyer of Russian oil after China. That pressure has skyrocketed over time, with the US focusing on building strategic ties with India, which is seen as a breakwater against rising China.
But Trump’s threat to punish India over oil has regained these issues.
On Sunday, the Trump administration was unhappy with the public more than ever before about ties between India and Russia. White House vice-Chief of Staff Stephen Miller accused India of funding the Russian war in Ukraine, saying that by purchasing oil from Moscow it was “unacceptable” by Russia’s war.
However, some experts suspect that Trump’s remarks are merely a pressure tactic. “Given the wilderness changes in Trump’s policies, Chauria said, “It could go back to high fives and embrace again.”
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Associated Press Writer Michelle L. Washington’s Price contributed the report.
