I don’t think any Indian Prime Minister has ever been so thoroughly and persistently humiliated by an American President ever. For some reason, even by Trump’s own abysmal standards, his constant insults of our Prime Minister have reached a new low.
In his first term itself, while Modi was going around showcasing how he has taken India to new diplomatic heights, Trump punctured the balloon with, “The Indian leader is constantly telling me he built a library in Afghanistan. Library! That's, like, five hours of what we spend!” This was on 6.1.2019. It was basically mocking India’s aid to Afghanistan compared to the billions the U.S. had spent.
There’ve been quiet, surreptitious ways of wooing American Presidents. With Biden, it came to light accidentally when their State Department had to publish the gifts received by their President and the First Lady. Turned out that Mrs. Biden had received the most expensive gift from Mr. Modi, a 7.5 carat diamond valued at USD 20,000. The $ 20,000 diamond was apparently “retained for official use in the White House East Wing” while the other gifts to the President and the First Lady were sent to the archives. What the “official use” was, was never specified.
With Trump, Modi had tried a very blatant breaking of protocol by that “Ab ki baar, Trump sarkar.” But the quiet bit was by pampering his ego to have millions of people throng to just see and hear him in Ahmedabad. However, with Trump, nothing remains quiet. For example, Trump on 13.2.2020:
“He (Modi) said we will have millions and millions of people. My only problem is that last night we probably had 40 or 50,000 people… I’m not going to feel so good… There will be five to seven million people just from the airport to the new stadium (in Ahmedabad).
As the world was scrambling for a remedy for COVID-19, an anti-malarial drug, Hydroxychloroquine came up as a possible candidate. Countries started stockpiling the drug and on April 4, 2020, India, dubbed the pharmacy of the world, banned its exports so as to secure its own supplies. To which Trump responded in his typical crude manner, “If he (Modi) doesn’t allow it to come out, that would be okay, but of course, there may be retaliation. Why wouldn’t there be?” And India lifted the ban post-haste for the U.S..
While Modi thought he had kept things under wraps during Operation Sindoor, especially the parts which didn’t cast things in a favourable light, suddenly Trump announced at 1700 hrs on 10.5.2026 on his Truth Social platform that there was a ceasefire through U.S. mediation and took the credit. No amount of afterthought whitewashing by India could wipe off that claim, especially since Trump has repeated it every single time he has got an opportunity.
Thereafter, it has been almost a daily dose of sniping. Following are some examples:
“I don’t want to ruin the political career of Mr Modi but he definitely "loves" me.” – 16.10.2025
"They wanted to make me happy, basically. Modi is a very good man; he is a good guy. He knew I was not happy, and it was important to make me happy," – 6.1.2026
“Modi came to see me. Sir. May I see you, please? I said, Yes." – 7.1.2026
I think, the Mandarins at our foreign ministry must be holding their breath every time Trump gets a chance to interact with the media.
During my first year post-MBA, in the corporate sector in Bombay, I used to stay in the YMCA hostel along with many others in their early corporate ladders. Whenever we used to have any ailment, we used to go to a doctor nearby and after his treatment, used to get cured. Later, we found out that regardless of the ailment, whether it was a fever or stomach ache or diarrhoea or anything, he used to give us one single injection, the same injection, every time. Still, we used to get cured, possibly because the doctor had a beautiful, very comforting bedside manner.
Like that doctor, Trump seems to have one single solution for most problems in the world, i.e., tariffs. Unfortunately, his manners are extremely crude, nothing like comforting. He has piled on tariff after tariff upon India and is threatening even more tariffs for real and imaginary grievances. He is behaving like a peeved, petulant child with regard to India. Apart from any other thing, it’s probably because India won’t – actually can’t – endorse him for that Nobel prize because that’d be admitting his mediation during Operation Sindoor.
But, why exactly is India so afraid and quaking over these tariffs?
India’s exports are around 20 % of its GDP. Out of that, only about 18 % go to the United States. With such a huge economy, a mere 3-4 % can just be shrugged off. Plus, exports on the surface are one thing; actual exports are another. When there’s serious economic advantage to be had, exports and imports do find their way through like water seeping in, either indirectly or illegally. Trump is taking a mercantile approach to trade. The world and economics have moved on. Either he or his advisors haven’t heard of the theory of comparative advantage. It’s just not possible for all countries to have positive balance of trade because net exports globally have to be zero.
Looks like, not India but Mr. Modi is panicking. And, not necessarily because of the tariffs. This panic, as with everything Mr. Modi, is humongously amplified by the ecosystem. That fear could be because of the leverage from a pending warrant. The real negotiation seems to be over that alleged bribery scandal.
Is there a way out? Yes. Merely acknowledge that a
hug is not a solution to everything, just as a tariff isn't. And, drop Adani!
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