How to Lose India

Trump insisted Modi give him public credit for ending the fighting between India and Pakistan. Modi refused. Fifty percent tariffs on Indian imports followed. And the end of a strategic partnership.

Prime Minister Modi, President Putin, and President Xi meet in China, September 1, 2025. Photo courtesy of the Office of the Prime Minister of India

The pictures of a smiling Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister, standing hand-in-hand with Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping describes what happens when a petulant leader in search for his Nobel Peace Prize decides to torpedo a quarter-century effort to forge a strategic partnership between Delhi and Washington.

As I argued in my bimonthly column in Politico Europe, Indians saw the return of Trump as the beginning of a new dawn in relations with the United States.

When I traveled to India last February, I found a nation enthralled by America and its newly reelected president. It was a point of national pride that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the first foreign leader President Donald Trump welcomed to the Oval Office after his inauguration. And in contrast to opinion in Europe and elsewhere, polls showed a majority of Indians had confidence in Trump doing the right thing.

While traveling around the country, I met young people who yearned for the opportunity to study at American universities and build a better future for themselves and their families. Business leaders were on the cusp of expanding exports to the world’s largest consumer market and building a stronger industrial base to compete with China, having been promised a quick trade agreement. Meanwhile, diplomats and military officers believed that mutual animosity toward China would bring the U.S. and India into a new strategic partnership.

After 25 years of steady bipartisan effort to expand America’s relationship with India, Trump’s return to power was widely viewed as the dawn of a bright future for everyone.

What could possibly go wrong? A lot, it turns out.

Read the entire article at Politico Europe.