MEA dials down Trump noise: India, US weathered challenges, focus on future

This response came the day Trump unveiled sweeping new tariffs on dozens of countries including 25 per cent for goods from India.

Responding to a question, MEA’s official spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said Friday:  “India and the United States share a comprehensive global strategic partnership anchored in shared interests, democratic values, and robust people-to-people ties. This partnership has weathered several transitions and challenges. We remain focused on the substantive agenda that our two countries have committed to and are confident that the relationship will continue to move forward.”

Asked about India-US defence ties in the wake of reports of India refusing to consider F-35 fighter jets, the MEA spokesperson said, “We have a strong defence partnership with the U.S. which has been strengthening over the last several years. There is potential for this partnership to grow further under the India-US COMPACT for the 21st century.”

Responding to Trump’s talk of a penalty on India for buying energy from Russia, Jaiswal said: “In securing our energy needs, we are guided by what is on offer in the markets, and by the prevailing global circumstances.”

Incidentally, this has been Delhi’s position for the last three years, since the war in Ukraine broke out after the Russian invasion in February 2022.

On Trump’s tirade against India-Russia ties and that they are both “dead economies”, the MEA spokesperson said: “Our bilateral relationships with various countries stand on their own merit and should not be seen from the prism of a third country. India and Russia have a steady and time-tested partnership.”

On Trump’s anger at India buying Russian defence equipment, he said, “The sourcing of our defence requirements is determined solely by our national security imperatives and strategic assessments.”

While India does depend on Russia for the defence supplies, much of it is because of the legacy from the Soviet Union era. Although the dependency is about 60 to 70 per cent, India has, in the past few years, steadily diversified its defence purchases from countries including the US.

Yet, the framing by Trump — “I don’t care what India does with Russia. They can take their dead economies down together, for all I care” — has been seen as offensive by many.

While his criticism of India putting high tariffs has been a pet grievance from his first term — when he called India a “tariff king” — the US President’s latest statement described India’s trade policies as “most strenuous and obnoxious”.

Trump’s remarks deepen Delhi’s diplomatic challenge when India and the US are negotiating a bilateral trade deal.

There are two possible impulses that guide Trump’s responses, according to Delhi’s analysis.

First, his negotiating style to browbeat and bully the adversary by imposing high tariffs and try and get the deal on his own terms. This has been seen with China, where he imposed 145 per cent tariffs and then dialled down to 35 – after talks in Geneva.

Second, some in the Indian establishment feel that the US President has not taken very kindly to Delhi fact-checking Trump’s claims on brokering a ceasefire. Not only has PM Narendra Modi conveyed this in the phone call with Trump on June 17, but Indian ministers and officials have repeatedly denied the claim.

Despite not stating that President Trump is a “liar” — as demanded by Congress leader and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi — the Indian government has forcefully contradicted the US President.

But New Delhi feels that Trump’s remarks threaten to undo the hard work made by the two countries as “strategic partners” in a relationship that was framed as the “defining partnership of the 21st century” by US President Barack Obama.

South Block is, however, trying to not get drawn into an emotional and angry response, and is projecting restraint amid the US President’s verbal tirade and social media blitzkrieg of epithets directed at India.

While the Commerce ministry said it has “taken note” of Trump’s statement on bilateral trade and the Government is studying its implications, sources said that any response had to be shorn of emotion.

“India and the US have been engaged in negotiations on concluding a fair, balanced and mutually beneficial bilateral trade agreement over the last few months. We remain committed to that objective,” the Commerce ministry statement had said.

Sources said that negotiators from both sides are in touch and they have to be immune from the noise.

The diplomatic challenge is three-fold, sources said: how long can Delhi stand its ground against the US; whether India can engage with Trump’s inner circle; and whether they can overcome the distrust fuelled by the Trump’s comments in the long term.

“We will not get drawn into the tit-for-tat response with the US President, and our negotiators have been asked to not pay attention to Trump’s unique style of public negotiations. Those are best left to be done away from the public gaze,” a source said.