Losing our way in the world

India needs to raise its foreign policy game to meet Trump’s challenge

Alok Tiwari

If there was any doubt that the US president Donald Trump was singling India out for special treatment, it was laid to rest last week when he imposed a massive one lakh dollar fee on H1B visas. The visa, meant for skilled foreign workers, is the route most Indians take to find work in the US, usually after completing their studies in an American university. Nearly three-fourths of H1B visas issued go to Indians. Another 12 percent or so go to the Chinese, with all other countries sharing the remaining. Before this, too, Trump had imposed a punitive 50% tariff on India ostensibly for continuing to buy Russian oil. That this is just a façade is clear because he has cooled off his trade war with China that buys much more Russian oil. Same with Europe.

India was set to be among the first ones to complete a trade deal with the US when Trump unleashed his global tariffs. But since then, the negotiations are dragging. His aides come up with highly incendiary comments on India almost daily. He himself has needled India on numerous occasions and tried to embarrass prime minister Narendra Modi dozens of times by publicly proclaiming it was his intervention that stopped Operation Sindoor.

This is more than just a negotiating tactic. The object appears to be to bring India on its knees. How did we get to this stage? It would be easy, but also lazy, to blame it on Trump’s mercurial nature. No doubt, he has turned the entire US polity on its head. He has taken steps that would be unthinkable by any other president. However, he has also shown a remarkable ability to retract from his stands to close a deal. Indeed, he prides himself as a deal maker. If we are unable to cut a deal with him when even a declared foe like China has, then we need to look inside as well.

There is no denying that India’s foreign policy has fundamentally shifted since ascendancy of Modi to premiership. He has tried to project a more robust persona. His message to the world, in so many words, is that earlier governments were meek and weak. The ‘new India’, as he loves to call it, is willing and capable of asserting its identity and interests. Foreign minister S Jaishankar too seems to have bought into the government’s own vishwaguru and amritkaal myths. This has meant arrogant and snide remarks have replaced nuts and bolts diplomacy.

This is great for scoring brownie points at home but poor for making allies. Modi’s core supporters, not without design, see him as a strongman finally putting India on a world map. His massive rallies with diaspora abroad are part of this image projection. Some other actions towards this end have not played well. India was blamed for assassination of a Khalistani activist in Canada and an operative having links with India was caught for plotting assassination of another in the US. The first instance caused a major row with Canada while the second angered the US. This assertive new stance also alienated smaller neighbouring countries from Maldives to Bangladesh to Sri Lanka to Nepal. All these countries cozied up to China abandoning their traditional close relations with India. 

For those drunk on nationalist Kool-Aid, this was fine. However, to succeed on world stage every country needs friends. Also, you need economic heft that makes the world take you seriously. For all the talk of becoming the fourth largest economy of the world, India’s share of world trade remains minuscule. There is hardly any critical commodity or product for which the world depends on India. Our economy is still largely domestic based on our large population. The reforms that might have integrated us better with world economy and made us more consequential have not happened and are not happening still. There really is no compulsion for anyone, especially US, to indulge us.

Some of our troubles can also be traced back to earlier missteps. At that time, US was actively pushing India as a counter to China. This saw some large American companies diversify their investment from China. Some of it came to India, Apple being one notable success. India shifted completely into US camp. We gave them large defence orders and went all in on Quad group that sought to contain China. Our participation in BRICS—the other bloc having Brazil, Russia, China, and S Africa—was visibly reduced. India pointedly remained away from BRICS effort to de-dollarize world trade so as not to annoy the US. That is costing us dear today.

BRICS are less trusting of India now that we are wanting to be friends again. There are lessons to be learnt here. India has traditionally maintained an independent foreign policy. We were leader of the non-aligned movement that emerged as the largest international grouping in its time and a credible voice of the Global South. Of course, we aligned with great powers as per our needs but there was no uncertainty or lack of trust about which way we would go. Our responses were based more on principles and serving our critical interests rather than false projections or domestic hero-worship.

The late conservative thinker Charles Krauthammer once wrote a country’s foreign policy should meet two conditions: it must be right and it must be in self-interest. Both are necessary, neither is sufficient. Very often chasing one involves sacrificing the other. Successful diplomacy is one that achieves both. Nations do follow their own interests, but their world view is rooted in principles. Being non-aligned is not same as being aligned with all and as per convenience. That is a cynical approach that erodes a nation’s credibility. As India faces one of the toughest foreign policy challenges, it needs to define those principles and stand by them.

This column appeared in Lokmat Times on Sept 25, 2025