The week before Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in the United States, he received an unpleasant gift. A military plane from the United States that transported around 100 undocumented Indian migrants was sent to Punjab Indio.
The men had suffered the 40 -hour trip from the detention centers in the United States to India in Grilletes. More flights of this type followed, with the total number of Indian deportees from the USA. Uu. Crossing 330 in less than two weeks. The heartbreaking evidence has been described by the deportees who have undergone said treatment by the administration of President Donald Trump who intends to take them out of the United States.
Therefore, it must have been a humiliating moment for Modi, who for a long time has been a Trump fan with whom he shares the same authoritarian inclinations. Since Modi’s visit in 2019 to the return trip of the United States and Trump the following year, with both men talking with full audiences during their respective visits, the Indians in general and modi in particular had imagined that the joke between the two leaders He distinguished them from the rest of the rest. . Taking into account the punishments that the Trump administration has been raining in so many other countries, they thought they would be saved.
But the first plane full of deportees undoubtedly shook his nerves. In the period prior to the real meeting, the television presenters of India continued to praise the cozy relationship of the two men in wearing screens with images of the demonstrations in Houston and Ahmedabad. The nerves were not just for the planning of the deportees. In the new era of trade that the Trump administration seems anxious to be a pioneer, tariffs reign supreme deficits and trade are decisive. According to these metrics, India would be beaten strongly.
This was obvious hours before the meeting when President Trump announced that the United States would slapped reciprocal tariffs in all countries that charged the United States rates. The Trump administration was also bothered by the huge commercial deficit between the two countries: $ 45.6 billion in favor of India.
In Trump’s worldview, such deficits are the direct result of the high rates that a private economy, in this case, India, is charging the United States for access to its consumption market. During his electoral campaign, Trump had referred to India as a “great abuse” of commercial ties. He said India would need to increase their gas purchases, oil and defense equipment from the United States.
Despite the support of Trump, the establishment of Hindutva of the right that signed up for Modi was essentially scolded.
During his recent visit, when Modi hugged Trump, the latter did not seem to be so effusive. While the Indian media transmitted the live event tried to take a positive turn to the meeting of two men; Highlighting what Trump said about Modi’s negotiation skills: “He is a much harder negotiator than me, and is a much better negotiator than me”: the meeting, by any objective standard, was not a success, whose fact was the fact that modi came back without exemptions about the problem of reciprocal rates.
According ReutersIn 2023, India imposed a weighted rate of aggregates of 11pc in American goods, which is higher than the United States charges India. In certain sectors, tariffs were even higher.
For example, the White House said on an informative sheet: “The US Average. Uu. Applied the most favored nation … The rate of agricultural goods is 5 percent. But the average applied MFN rate of India is 39 percent. India also charges a 100 percent rate on US motorcycles, while we only charge a 2.4 percent rate on Indian motorcycles. “The last example practically guarantees that no American manufacturer can sell motorcycles to the Indian consumption market.
With such ads leaving the White House even before the arrival of Modi to Washington, the result of the meeting was more or less expected. Trump did not announce exemptions just because India was “special” or because he and Modi were “good friends.” “Prime Minister Modi and I have agreed that we will be in negotiations to address long -term disparities,” Trump said, on the other hand, referring to the commercial relationship between the United States and India. But really, we want a certain level of playing field, which we really believe we are entitled. “
Modi moved away after having said that his country that now buys oil and gas from other countries would now have to buy it in the United States and then send it from the United States to India. This purchase will be much more expensive than India has been accustomed.
Trump also offered the possibility that India bought F-35s, something that may sound good, but that it camouflages the fact that India would probably have to buy the expensive defense products that the United States chooses to produce or sell it so that the commercial deficit is narrow.
All this is not good news for Modi. Despite the support of Trump, the establishment of Hindutva of the right that signed up for Modi was essentially scolded. It is likely that reciprocal tariffs are raised the growth rate of India even more, since it has to buy expensive things, it does not need to reduce the commercial deficit. All this can even cause Indian manufacturers to have diminished access to the US consumer market if Modi does not reduce tariffs.
The United States is in the process of instituting a new foreign policy; one that is hard and without selfish apologies. India, where Islamophobia has become part of national culture, felt that Islamophobic Trump can also make exceptions for them. However, the new America under Trump is simply not interested.
At the press conference during his visit, Modi took an excessive comparison and a combination of ‘Make America Great Again’ and ‘Make India Great Again’ – “Mega Association for Prosperity”. For anyone, except Modi’s supporters in the Chamber, this statement made sense.
The writer is a lawyer who teaches constitutional law and political philosophy.
rafia.zakaria@gmail.com
Posted in Dawn, February 22, 2025
