Trump’s Blind Spot on India

President Trump often says that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is his “friend.” If so, why is our India policy so wobbly, and at times downright hostile? These columns rarely praise the European Union. Yet the trade agreement Brussels just completed with New Delhi represents the far-sightedness that Washington lacks in recognizing the value of the world’s most populous country. India is too much of an asset to turn into a liability.After a year of negotiations, Delhi remains hopeful for a trade deal with Washington. “The ball is still in play,” the executive editor of Hindustan Times, Shishir Gupta, tells our Benny Avni. Yet no one in India can hide the country’s anger at Mr. Trump’s punitive sanctions. After initially imposing a 25 percent tariff, citing trade imbalance, the president doubled down. An extra 25 percent tariff is meant to reduce India’s ties with Russia.So far the latter sanction has failed to coax the Kremlin into ending the Ukraine war. Yet it had some success. India cut oil imports from Russia by 28 percent from their peak level, according to Delhi’s oil minister, Hardeep Singh Puri. He also says further cuts are expected. At Delhi last month, though, Mr. Modi rolled out the red carpet to President Vladimir Putin. Meanwhile the war’s backyard, Europe, has just realized that India is too big to ignore. This week’s pact between the EU and India will reduce bilateral tariffs significantly. Europe will benefit from a huge new market for its car manufacturers, makers of wine, and other producers. Indians will access European technology industries. Textile, jewelry, and other signatory Indian goods will reach Europe’s 450 million residents, reducing unemployment at home. Both sides will tighten security cooperation in the Indo-pacific region. To Indians, Mr. Trump’s punitive measures seem almost petty in comparison. Mr. Modi is more pro-American than any of his Delhi predecessors. With its size, economic development, and democratic ways, India is Asia’s natural counterweight to America’s most formidable competitor, Communist China. Yet Mr. Trump seems almost intent on treating India as an equal to its nemesis, the failed state of Pakistan, which happens to be a Beijing satrap. Indians are far from the only ones that are mystified with Mr. Trump’s icy approach to their country. Senator Ted Cruz told donors in a recent closed door conversation that he was constantly “battling” with Mr. Trump and his team, urging them to finalize a trade deal with India, Axios is reporting. Resistance, he added, comes from the White House economic adviser, Peter Navarro, Vice President Vance, and “sometimes” Mr. Trump himself.Mr. Cruz, mostly a Trump ally, also warns the president that his tariff policies will lead to a Republican “bloodbath” in November. The Senator, we might add, is no fan of Europe’s approach to world affairs. Yet the EU gets what he is driving at. Why would America impose slightly higher tariffs on India than on Communist China? Is it really about Delhi’s ties with Moscow? President Xi Jinping, after all, is much closer to Mr. Putin than Mr. Modi. “We have put 25 percent tariffs on India for buying Russian oil,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told ABC News on Sunday. “Guess what happened? The Europeans signed a trade deal.” By consuming Russian oil, the EU indeed is “financing” a nemesis. Mr. Modi, though, picks no sides in the Ukraine war. He is mostly interested in his competition with Beijing. Better ties with India could benefit America more than constantly antagonizing it.

Trump’s Blind Spot on India

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