Editorial: There can be no friend of Trump

At last, India seems to have realised, to paraphrase Henry Kissinger, that it may be dangerous to be Trump’s enemy, but to be Trump’s friend is fatal. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) put out a statement Monday night, Aug. 4, pushing back against the American President’s bullying on India’s oil trade with Russia and asserting that its economic sovereignty is not negotiable. This followed the Prime Minister’s indirect riposte to Trump earlier in the week that “we will buy only those things that are made by Indians.”

The PM should have spelt out his response to Trump’s tariff threats and jibes in Parliament. Instead, he alluded to them at a public rally, as is his wont. While his speech in Varanasi was more cinematic than substantive, the MEA statement was well-measured to make an emphatic point without using aggravating language.

The official statement said India’s oil purchases from Russia are an exercise of its right to chart its own energy policy, which would be dictated by national interest, not external pressure. India will source its oil from wherever it is affordably available. India rightly pointed out the hypocrisy implicit in Trump’s bid to mount pressure on Vladimir Putin by leaning on India. European nations have been buying gas and oil from Russia: Germany and Italy directly while other countries buy refined products through intermediaries, including India.

Despite the cribbing about India, both the European Union and the US trade with Russia: Brussels traded goods worth 67.5 billion euros last year, spanning fertilizers, mining products, chemicals, and energy including a record 16.5mn tonnes of LNG; as for the US, it continues to import Russian products for its nuclear and EV industries apart from fertilizers and chemicals. All this while supplying arms, munitions and intelligence to Ukraine to keep the war going.

Trump’s baiting of India last week should bring home to New Delhi the folly of considering a fool as a friend. There is a mountain of evidence that Trump and friendship are incompatible qualities. Yes, there are urban legends floating about that favours can be gained from the White House incumbent by stroking his ego or giving him gifts. But such tactics are best left to adventurer countries like Pakistan. India is too big a country to reduce its foreign policy to baubles and flattery. It may appear street-smart but there is no evidence that appeasement of Trump has yielded a dividend to anyone but him.

Significant challenges lie ahead for India and the PM in particular. Immediately, there are the 25% Trump tariffs to deal with and possibly a hefty penalty for buying oil from Russia. While the TACO (Trump Always Chickens Out) factor cannot be ruled out, the ongoing trade talks with Washington are finely poised with India under pressure to open up its agriculture, dairy, nuclear, and defence sectors to the US — concessions that will come at a high domestic cost.

Further on, there is the Quad summit coming up this year and the BRIC summit next, both of which India is to host. With Trump implacably hostile to BRICS, his participation in the former will be in doubt if New Delhi does not uncouple from the latter. If Trump gives it a miss, it may spell doom for Modi’s ambition of making India a major player in the geopolitics of the Indo-Pacific. The challenge of straddling two contradictory platforms will test PM Modi’s skills on the trapeze to the limit.