TOI Correspondent from Washington: As a country that has long had to pull off a balancing act between Moscow and Washington and has even had to weather threat of sanctions from US because of it, India is breathing a sigh of relief after President Trump moved to end the Russia-Ukraine war on Wednesday. On the flip side, Trump fired a warning shot ahead of his Thursday 4 pm meeting with Prime Minister Modi, with an all-caps message on his social media platform: “THREE GREAT WEEKS, PERHAPS THE BEST EVER, BUT TODAY IS THE BIG ONE: RECIPROCAL TARIFFS!!! MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!”
The twin developments underscored the high-wire act Modi has to pull off in protecting India’s interests in talks with the US President, while implicitly acknowledging Trump’s “America First” policy. In a separate executive order he signed on Wednesday to establish “one clear, unified voice for America’s foreign relations,” Trump sought to whip the State Department into guaranteeing a “strong and effective approach to international relations that always serves US interests first.”
“No longer will America be taken advantage of by foreign nations or by rogue actors who undermine our sovereignty or security,” the EO said. Trump has accused almost the entire world, including India, of “ripping” off the US in trade matters.
But on the Russia front at least, there is some relief for India, although the purported Trump acquiescence of the Russian invasion and throwing of Ukraine under the bus, in remarks preceding his meeting with Prime Minister Modi on Thursday, has traditionalist US foreign policy long steeped in adversarial ties with Russia, up in arms.
There was no comment from India on the Russia-Ukraine development, but Trump critics on both sides of the US political divide excoriated the President for his perceived “sell-out,” even as many NATO and European leaders shuddered at the license it could give to Russian expansionism.
“Mr. President, Ukraine will only “be Russian someday” if the United States abandons them to Putin’s brutal invasion…. Stand Firm. If Ukraine falls, it will only be a matter of time until Russia invades a NATO ally our troops will be required to defend,” Trump’s former vice-president Mike Pence, an establishment Republican, said in a post on X.
In his remarks following phone calls with Putin and Ukraine’s leader Voldymyr Zelensky, Trump suggested that since Russia “fought for that land” in Ukraine “and lost a lot of soldiers” doing so, that Russia should be able to keep it.
John Bolton, Trump’s National Security Advisor during his first term, was among those who unloaded on the President, saying “by making these and others concessions before negotiations even started, Trump has effectively surrendered to Putin on Ukraine.”
“I warned many times that Trump will favor Russia in negotiations between Zelensky and Putin. Russia’s military performance has been miserable, but Trump is vindicating Putin’s decision to invade. The harm to US security interests will extend well beyond Central Europe, as our adversaries in the Middle East and the Indo-Pacific can plainly see,” Bolton said.
The Trump detente on the Russia-Ukraine front threatened to overshadow the US-India bilateral engagement, which in any case gets little attention in Washington amid hyped coverage in the Indian media. Trump and Modi are expected to speak to the media at around 5 pm on Thursday (Friday 3.30 am IST) after their talks in the Oval Office, followed by a private dinner.
The Indian side is expected to announce purchase of US military equipment, energy, and agricultural products in an effort to assuage Trump’s concerns about New Delhi’s trade surplus. What India will get in return is unclear.
