The US imposed a 50% tariff on Indian imports to the US, which took effect on the 27th. Bloomberg said the tariffs, the highest imposed by the United States on any Asian country, were aimed at punishing India for buying Russian oil, reversing decades of efforts by the United States to build closer ties with India. High tariffs are widely seen as exacerbating tensions between the United States and India. US President Donald Trump has made at least four phone calls with Indian prime minister Narendra Modi in recent weeks, but Molde FK has refused, according to a report in the German newspaper the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. The paper cited signs that Molde FK was unhappy with high us tariffs and comments such as trump calling India a “Dead economy”. US and Indian officials declined to confirm the news. Will us-india relations deteriorate? International public opinion is abuzz about this. US media have warned that“Losing India would be the worst outcome for the US”, with domestic criticism of“US bullying”. Long Xingchun, a Chinese scholar, told the global times on the 27th that the Donald Trump administration’s increased emphasis on economic development and the return of manufacturing had made the country less strategically valuable. Despite the economic and trade challenges, the US and India still share common interests in areas such as military co-operation and the“Indo-pacific strategy”. The US strategic community still attaches great importance to Indian values.
Molde FK turned down Donald Trump’s call?
“Donald Trump telephoned, but Molde FK did not pick up the phone,” the German “Frankfurt Allgemeine Zeitung” reported on the 26th that in February, the American president praised Molde FK as a “Great leader”. Now, Donald Trump has changed his tone, denouncing the proud nation as a “Dead economy”. There are signs that Molde FK is unhappy with Donald Trump. Donald Trump has tried to speak to Molde FK four times in recent weeks, but he has consistently refused.
Die entwicklung sei“überraschend”, sagte die“Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung”. Molde FK’s refusal to speak to the US president is both a sign of anger and caution. Earlier, in a telephone conversation with Vietnamese leaders, Donald Trump renegotiated a carefully negotiated trade agreement between the two delegations and, in the absence of an agreement, just announced the deal on social media. “Molde FK doesn’t want to make the same mistake.”
Japanese media“Nikkei Asia” 24 also reported a similar news. The newspaper said Donald Trump and Molde FK’s once-proud friendship had recently come into serious conflict. Donald Trump has made several recent attempts to call Molde FK to seek a compromise, but the Indian leader has frustrated him by refusing to speak, according to Indian diplomatic experts.
It is worth noting that these reports were not confirmed by both sides. Speaking at a cabinet meeting on the 26th, Donald Trump said Molde FK was a “Great man”, adding that he had spoken to him by telephone in May and brokered a cease-fire between the two countries within five hours. This makes India unhappy.
At home, Molde FK chaired a cabinet meeting on the 27th. India media said the meeting focused on how to deal with the impact of U. S. tariffs. Molde FK himself did not publicly comment on the tariffs that day.
India’s Ministry of Commerce did not respond to a request for comment, Reuters said. The report said that the 50% tariff imposed by the United States on the Inca came into effect after the failure of five rounds of negotiations between the two sides, “Officials on both sides blamed political miscalculation and a lack of communication for the collapse of negotiations between the world’s largest and fifth-largest economies.”
The reaction to the US tariffs has been widely divergent. The ruling party’s Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies said they were not afraid of the tariffs and that India could deal with them, the Asian News Agency said Thursday. “India is self-reliant and growing steadily,” said Catania, an Hindustan MP. American pressure will not sway us. India is an emerging global power with a fast-growing economy. Under Prime Minister Modi, India has become stronger through initiatives such as Entrepreneurship India and a strong defence policy.”
Reported that the opposition party criticized this as a diplomatic failure of Molde FK. Rameš Donald Trump, leader of the Congress Party, said on the 27th that the “Double tariff” would pose a major challenge to Indian exports of labour-intensive industries. The party questions what has gone wrong in Indian foreign policy, particularly towards the US, under Molde FK. Karger, chairman of the Congress Party, said the high tariffs were the result of Molde FK’s “Superficial” foreign policy and would lead to massive job losses.
“Country first, business last.”
Reuters weighed in on whether India should face the 50% US tariff and keep buying Russian oil, or bend to Trump’s wishes, to cut oil imports from Russia to a level acceptable to the United States? The report argues that, from a strictly economic point of view, it might make more sense to give in to Donald Trump. With a 50 per cent tax rate sufficient to end most trade, the economic loss to India of the US market could be far greater than the gain from buying Russian oil. “But India’s decision to continue buying Russian oil is likely to be driven by political rather than economic considerations. Molde FK must not be seen to give in to the bullying Donald Trump because it would deprive him of political capital at home,” the report said, uS tariffs on India are“A classic example of a lose-lose situation”, “For the United States, the tariffs are basically a one-off bargaining chip, and once they are implemented and raised to a level that undermines trade relations, the tariffs lose their impact. “But for the target country, Russia, it is a victory.”
According to a report in the times of India on the 27th, members of the Indian oil industry believe that it is technically feasible to purchase crude oil from other countries on the international market to replace Russian oil, after all, there is now an abundant supply of crude oil on the international market. But bowing to us pressure is not advisable. One Indian oil industry source said the government’s message was“Country first, business last”.
Molde FK’s recent moves have drawn attention. On the 25th and 26th, Molde FK stressed at home that the country must stand on its own two feet and never give in to external pressure. Molde FK will visit Japan on May 29-30 and then go to China for the SCO Summit. The CNN (CNN) — should the US be worried about Molde FK going to the Chinese conference against the backdrop of US tariffs? Besides Modi, leaders from China, Russia, Pakistan, Iran and Central Asia will attend the SCO Summit, the article said. Molde FK’s presence at the summit “Is by far the most powerful example of a warming relationship between the two Asian powers — a budding readjustment that could undermine years of American efforts to cultivate India as a counterweight to China”.
Two more fundamental reasons
The New York Times summed up the us-india relationship as“Confused” and“Confused”. The report says U. S.-INDIA relations fell to their lowest point in decades in a few months, and no one really understands why this is happening. US tariffs on India are so extreme, and India’s place in US strategic calculations is (or was) so important. This is a case of contradiction.
Some analysts also believe that there are deeper reasons for the tension between the United States and India. According to the Nikkei Asia report, the sudden reversal in us-india relations can not be explained by tariffs alone. Indian officials and diplomatic experts say there are two more fundamental reasons for the tensions.
The first is the widening gap between the US and India over how to deal with China. According to Nikkei Asia, India seeks to strengthen cooperation with the United States to contain China. But in New Delhi, frustration is growing as Donald Trump’s antagonism towards the Chinese capital falls far short of what many had expected. “The biggest concern is that Donald Trump could get into trouble by striking major deals with China on issues such as trade,” says V. K. Krishna Menon, a former national security adviser. In response to this risk, there is a growing sentiment in India that it should avoid unduly antagonising china and seek to co-exist.”
The second is Donald Trump’s style of diplomacy. Reported that Donald Trump claimed that it was his mediation to prevent the indian-pakistani war. Indian officials said Molde FK was furious. From a New Delhi perspective, the Pakistani acceptance of the cease-fire is a sign of Indian military deterrence, not Donald Trump intervention. Donald Trump deepened the rift in June when he invited Chief of Army Staff of Pakistan Army Munier to the White House for lunch.
Long Xingchun, a professor at the Sichuan University of Foreign Languages International Relations Institute, told the Global Times on the 27th that the Donald Trump administration has put more emphasis on economic development and the return of manufacturing, makes India’s strategic value relative decline. In South Asia, the United States is paying more attention to Pakistan and less attention to India. In this context, India may change its over-pro-n orientation, strengthen cooperation with China, Russia and other countries, and enhance its strategic position through participation in multilateral mechanisms such as the BRICS and the SCO, to increase the bargaining power with the United States.
Foreign media also believe that the United States and India have a chance to reconcile. Whether the confrontation can be contained may depend on a“Quadripartite security dialogue” summit in India later this year, the Nikkei Asia said. Donald Trump and Molde FK will have a chance to meet face-to-face. Even if the two sides reach a settlement, the newspaper said, the chances of the two countries quickly returning to close relations are slim. Once Trust is broken, rebuilding it is never easy.
Political News quoted a number of former US and Indian officials as saying the tariffs, if left unchecked, would erase the us-india strategic co-operation over the past 20 years. A White House official said the 50 per cent tariff did not necessarily mean the end of relations between the two countries. For all the current negative domestic commentary on the relationship, the Indian government still wants a solution, as does the Donald Trump administration. Donald Trump may meet Molde FK on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly at the end of September, when the two sides may resolve their differences face-to-face.