America’s Mistake With Modi Is Making Trade Personal
The US should give India time to recalibrate, rather than deepening the tariff wound with insults.
The India-US falling out has been damaging.
Photographer: Prakash Singh/BloombergAs Donald Trump’s 50% tariffs on India kick in, the country seems more defiant than it is worried. If the US president intended this rate — the highest he has levelled so far alongside Brazil — as just another salvo in an ongoing negotiation, then he has misjudged the mood here. The political costs to Prime Minister Narendra Modi if he compromises on trade would be unendurable.
The US administration has committed a series of unforced errors that have not helped its case in New Delhi. These include swipes at India that appear unnecessary and gratuitous. Trump adviser Peter Navarro, for example, called the Russian invasion of Ukraine “Modi’s war,” holding the Indian leader personally responsible for its continuation — a statement that will startle many, not least Russian President Vladimir Putin.