- The extremity of Donald Trump’s petulance, arrogance, whims & fancies, idiosyncrasies, and inconsistency has been exposed over the last few months since assuming the office of the president of the United States of America. His bluster, tall claims, bombastic announcements, and a penchant for claiming undue credit have been witnessed by the whole world, leaving many wondering what’s happening with the established order globally. Of course, where few countries did acquiesce to the bullying tactics adopted by the maverick leader, some of the countries have stood firm in not only rebutting the tariff war unleashed by Trump but also have gone ahead and imposed reciprocal tariffs as well. China did the same nonchalantly and nonplussed. India now.
PC: PRESS Insider
- Indian leadership finds itself at the crosshairs of Trump’s tariff war. After levying a 25% tariff on Indian goods, an additional 25% sanction for buying Russian oil is going to be implemented from 27th August 2025. Make no mistake, Indian leadership did everything under its purview to ensure that the tariffs are kept at bay. Alas! The trade talks didn’t go the way Trump wanted them to. Notably, India did the right thing by not signing the bad US trade deal. Yes, tariffs will pinch, but only in the short term. Further, after seven months in the White House, Trump has picked his ambassador to India, but it’s a divisive choice. Those for Sergio Gor say he has Trump’s ear. So much so that Trump spiked Elon Musk’s pick for NASA chief on his advice.
PC: Mint
- Those against say the 38-year-old has zero diplomatic experience and shouldn’t be cutting his teeth in the world’s populous and nuclear-armed region. India has greeted the news cautiously, even as Trump heralded Gor as someone he can fully trust to deliver on his agenda. Undoubtedly, nobody has a handle on Trump’s geopolitics. A president who can strain an easy relationship to satisfy his ego – he’s claimed more than 40 times that he mediated the India-Pak ceasefire – defies analysis. But maybe there’s a method to Trump’s madness. Maybe it is about using India as a lever against Putin. Indeed, India has pointed out time and again that the US argument is self-serving. When America worried about a global oil shock at the start of the Ukraine war, India stepped in.
PC: Times of India
- India obliged by buying shiploads of Russian oil. Besides, China, the other major Russian oil buyer, has not faced Trump’s heat on this account after rattling its own rare earths sabre. In short, Trump’s moral posturing is nothing but bullying in the garb of principle. Thus, India has done well to resist US pressure for a trade deal that treads on its red lines of agriculture and dairy. This has cast a cloud in the short term, but there are silver linings. The higher US tariffs that Indian exports will face will impact Indian manufacturing and jobs, to an extent, but the GOI is alive to this challenge and will be looking at quantum, not incremental reforms, as the PM mentioned recently. Our short-term pain may ultimately lead to long-term gain, after all.
