> It is hard to knock India’s political and business elites off balance, but President Donald Trump is managing. In Delhi’s book-lined studies and the glass-walled corporate towers of Mumbai, grandees are suffering from vertigo. Normally, Indian diplomats and strategists take pride in being unshockable, remaining coolly transactional whatever a wicked world throws at them. But since Mr Trump’s return to office, elites are off-kilter.
> For a decade or more, Indian foreign policy has placed great weight on the notion that America and China are locked in an ideological and economic contest that is sure to endure for years. In that context, India saw a chance to pitch itself to America as an indispensable hedge against China in Asia.
> For all that, policy types feel “clueless” about what Mr Trump thinks, and whether his America First worldview tilts towards confronting China or cutting deals with it. “We understand that Trump may go softer on China, that [his] fire-and-brimstone era with China is over, so we need to be careful” says a foreign-policy thinker close to the government
Trump Two: not like Trump One
> India is not about to change its stance. It will still seek to balance competing powers and interests in a spirit of “cynical realism”, a tag used with pride in Delhi. Nor is India panicking.
> Still, India feels less sure-footed, especially in the economic realm. India has thrived by offering firms such as Apple a place to manufacture that is not China, responding to American calls for “friendshoring” production. But in his second term Mr Trump is often tougher on America-friendly trade partners than on adversaries such as China. At the same time, China seems warier of India’s rise. It recently ordered hundreds of Chinese engineers in Indian electronics plants to return home and blocked exports of fertilizers, rare earths which prompted a closedown of a Foxconn AirPod factory in India for 2 weeks until they found a replacement. Indian executives fret about reports of sophisticated Chinese-made machines being blocked from going to India. Among business and policy elites, no consensus exists about whether India should aim to completely decouple from China or try to accommodate its rulers in Beijing. If Mr Trump were predictable, such calculations would be easier. Because he is not, India walks on treacherous ground.
!ping IND
vvrr00 on
What India needs to do is honestly nothing and stay cool lol. They need to wait it out and try to increase the manufacturing base in the country and if possible give some even more minor concessions to trump.
There is never a better moment than this to increase its ties with the EU. Hope the EU FTA passes.
I hope the Indian government is ready to take some punches and endure
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> It is hard to knock India’s political and business elites off balance, but President Donald Trump is managing. In Delhi’s book-lined studies and the glass-walled corporate towers of Mumbai, grandees are suffering from vertigo. Normally, Indian diplomats and strategists take pride in being unshockable, remaining coolly transactional whatever a wicked world throws at them. But since Mr Trump’s return to office, elites are off-kilter.
> For a decade or more, Indian foreign policy has placed great weight on the notion that America and China are locked in an ideological and economic contest that is sure to endure for years. In that context, India saw a chance to pitch itself to America as an indispensable hedge against China in Asia.
> For all that, policy types feel “clueless” about what Mr Trump thinks, and whether his America First worldview tilts towards confronting China or cutting deals with it. “We understand that Trump may go softer on China, that [his] fire-and-brimstone era with China is over, so we need to be careful” says a foreign-policy thinker close to the government
Trump Two: not like Trump One
> India is not about to change its stance. It will still seek to balance competing powers and interests in a spirit of “cynical realism”, a tag used with pride in Delhi. Nor is India panicking.
> Still, India feels less sure-footed, especially in the economic realm. India has thrived by offering firms such as Apple a place to manufacture that is not China, responding to American calls for “friendshoring” production. But in his second term Mr Trump is often tougher on America-friendly trade partners than on adversaries such as China. At the same time, China seems warier of India’s rise. It recently ordered hundreds of Chinese engineers in Indian electronics plants to return home and blocked exports of fertilizers, rare earths which prompted a closedown of a Foxconn AirPod factory in India for 2 weeks until they found a replacement. Indian executives fret about reports of sophisticated Chinese-made machines being blocked from going to India. Among business and policy elites, no consensus exists about whether India should aim to completely decouple from China or try to accommodate its rulers in Beijing. If Mr Trump were predictable, such calculations would be easier. Because he is not, India walks on treacherous ground.
!ping IND
What India needs to do is honestly nothing and stay cool lol. They need to wait it out and try to increase the manufacturing base in the country and if possible give some even more minor concessions to trump.
There is never a better moment than this to increase its ties with the EU. Hope the EU FTA passes.
I hope the Indian government is ready to take some punches and endure