Deterioration of U.S.-India Relations Is ‘Head-Spinning’
Aug. 29—That is the characterization provided by Alyssa Ayres, a former State Department official now at George Washington University, in a discussion with Financial Times. The FT article described a “deepening a rift between Washington and New Delhi … a sudden escalation of tensions after the two sides failed to reach a breakthrough in trade talks.”
The Global Trade Research Initiative, a New Delhi-based think-tank, said that, with the 50% tariffs just imposed on India by the Trump administration, “Indian exports to the U.S., its largest trading partner, could fall from $86.5 billion this year to about $50 billion in 2026.” They said textiles, gems, jewelry, shrimp and carpets would be hit hardest, with 70% collapse in exports “endangering hundreds of thousands of jobs.”
The FT then quoted Mark Linscott, a former U.S. trade negotiator who now advises U.S. and Indian businesses: “I think India could survive 25% … but 50% is a completely different scenario.”
An article in Global Times also reviewed the state of U.S.-Indian relations, under the headline “Steep U.S. Tariffs Set To Hit Indian Exports from Wed; Modi Avoids Four Calls from Trump, Claims German Media.” The Aug. 27 article said that “several Indian media outlets have reported the claims from the German media outlet Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung [about Trump’s attempted calls to Modi]. The Times of India on Wednesday [Aug. 27] claimed that the German media did not cite the source of its claim but opined that the trade clash between Trump and Modi illustrated that ‘India will not bow to American pressure and New Delhi wants to manage its relations with both Washington and Beijing in its own way’…. According to the Times of India, officials in Washington declined to confirm or deny if the calls were made, but a key Indian diplomat said in a background conversation earlier this month that it is not Modi’s style to negotiate details over the phone. Another source was quoted by the report that ‘it is possible Modi ducked the call to be avoid the outcome of the conversation being misrepresented.’”
[TASS also reported]https://tass.com/world/2007529) the story from FAZ. “U.S. President Donald Trump has made four attempts to speak with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the phone in the past weeks but the latter did not take the calls, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper reported, citing sources…. ‘There are signs indicating that Modi felt insulted,’ Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes…. The newspaper also notes that the way Trump is perceived in India has considerably changed, particularly due to his statements about plans to boost relations with Pakistan.”