India Cheered Trump’s Return. Now It’s Worried
New Delhi is desperate to convince the new US administration that it’s not a “tariff king.” But it might get hit anyway.
India’s white-collar angst at what Trump might do.
Photographer: Gabriela Bhaskar/BloombergEven as recently as November, when the US election outcome was clear, the mood in India was optimistic. The Hindu right wing, which supplies Prime Minister Narendra Modi with some of his most ardent supporters, held religious ceremonies to celebrate Donald Trump’s win. Many in the analyst community cheered from the sidelines, expecting India to be a net beneficiary of new tariffs of 60% on all Chinese exports to the US, which is what the president had promised during his campaign.
India’s challenge around the time of the vote was largely domestic: Cost-of-living pressures, especially high food prices, were taking a toll on urban consumption. Growth was slowing rapidly; yet stubborn inflation was delaying monetary stimulus. As I wrote back then, the bigger headache for Indian authorities was tomatoes, not Trump.