We forget who Trump is. He is a sociopath. Trump earned his stripes and money in the cutthroat world of New York real estate. He has brought his self-promotion tactics, negotiating manoeuvres and bluff master persona to the Oval Office.
Trump lies, exaggerates and pivots on a dime. He frequently appears contradictory, incoherent and flippant. He also exhibits temperamental mood swings. Beneath these character traits lies a leader
The flip side of this ambivalence is that Trump cannot be and should not be taken for his word. It is a little mystifying, therefore, to watch talking heads and media in India go overboard with Trump’s lukewarm
Not even 24 hours had passed since Trump, who fatuously complained Friday morning that the United States has “lost India” to “deepest, darkest China”, and had flipped by evening to call ties with India a “special relationship”, that the narrative in India changed from the depths of despair to an overdose of enthusiasm.
Banner headlines and hopeful interjections on social media declared an “easing of tensions”, “patch up”,
Some of it is likely pressure from lobbies and vested interests that would like the government to settle for a ‘deal’ even under extractive terms, of the kind Japan has been forced to accept. The extortionist deal and humiliating terms imposed on Tokyo may have contributed to Japanese prime minister Shigeru
New Delhi seems to be taking a more measured and long-term view: holding firm on red lines while remaining courteous in public. I do not see how the Modi government can afford to walk back India’s stance on trade (regarding sensitive sectors such as agriculture and dairy) and sovereignty (membership of BRICS or buying of Russian oil) – issues where it enjoys broad public support and bipartisan backing.
There is definitely a sense in New Delhi, however, that a functional
Talking to Trump directly over the phone is an option, but western media reports indicate Modi has been
While a phone call is the best way to clear misconceptions, it also makes India vulnerable to Trump’s machinations. Operation Sindoor aftermath showed that the US president has an insatiable desire for credit and likes twisting reality to suit his agenda. One Truth Social post with a massive Trumpian
Faced with these clashing realities, we should note that the prime minister chose to respond to a curated version of Trump’s comments to mark his first reaction to the ongoing fracas. This was a calculated gamble. Despite a torrent of crass and provocative comments from the US president and his minions, the imposition of tariffs and threats of further punitive actions, Modi had
Around Friday afternoon in India (early morning in the US) Trump dropped a cryptic post on his Truth Social account. “Looks like we’ve lost India and Russia to deepest, darkest, China. May they have a long and prosperous future together…”
The US president was possibly issuing a late reaction to the SCO leaders’ summit hosted in Beijing that threw up pictures of Modi, Putin and host Xi Jinping huddling together. Those images got wide play around
Washington Post columnist Fareed Zakaria wrote that Trump’s “toxic combination of tariffs, hostile rhetoric and ideological demands is moving many of the world’s pivotal states away from the United States and toward China. It might be the greatest own goal in modern foreign policy.”
Whatever be Trump’s motivation, it signalled widening daylight between the two sides. Shortly afterwards, an MEA spokesperson at the weekly briefing said, “I have no comments to offer on this post at this point.”
By Friday night in India, Trump delivered a completely different assessment of bilateral ties at a White House press briefing, voicing a rare note of bonhomie. To a question by ANI correspondent on what he meant by “losing India to China”, Trump contradicted himself, saying, “I don’t think we have” and then went to add, “I always
These comments by Trump, notably, came a few hours after his commerce secretary Howard Lutnick went ballistic on India in an interview with Bloomberg on Friday, and in a blitz of arrogance predicted that India would shed its fake “bravado”, “say sorry” and come
US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on India
"In a month or 2 month, India will be on the table, & say sorry. They will try to make a deal with Donald Trump. It will be on Donald Trump's desk & how he will deal with Modi"pic.twitter.com/nXid27dW4q
— Sidhant Sibal (@sidhant) September 5, 2025
In his demands from India that it must “open its markets, stop buying Russian oil, stop being a part of BRICS and support the US dollar”, Lutnick’s swagger and half smirk carried more than a neocolonialistic air. It sent a message that
The comparisons with Canada and the forecast that Indians will issue a grovelling apology – a markedly incendiary comment since it is the Trump administration that has launched unilateral assault on the partnership and hence bears responsibility for the crisis, Lutnick revealed that he doesn’t understand India or Indians.
Unlike Canada, derided as America’s “51st state” by Trump, whose economy depends on access to the American market, India features the world’s largest consumer market. While Trump’s tariffs will hurt, the crisis won’t be existential. What Trump and his cronies don’t get, however, is that India’s stance isn’t about economic growth alone, but dignity and self-respect. India is a civilizational nation state, forged through centuries of suffering. It will endure pain but won’t bend its spine. Indians will take the hit, maybe eat one meal less but won’t grovel.
A message to this effect was shortly sent to Washington DC by Union finance minister N Sitharaman, who in an interview with Network18 group editor-in-chief Rahul Joshi, made it clear that India will “undoubtedly” buy Russian oil, and it is “our decision to buy from the place which suits our needs, whether in terms of rates, logistics…”
The finance minister also accused the US of taking a leaf out of Imperial Britain’s “divide and rule principle” and called members of the Opposition who were justifying Navarro’s
It is at this juncture that Trump delivered his comments in reply to the question posed by a DC-based ANI correspondent. It may indicate that he was seeking to cool down the temperature a bit. However, the naked hostility by Trump’s aides,
Worth noting that the comments attributed to Trump that Modi reacted to, were not in the exact sequence as uttered by the US president at the presser, but a modified version posted by news agency ANI that omitted one specific line where Trump had said, “I just don’t like what he is doing at this particular moment”.
Shorn of that line, these are the sentences that
“India and the United States have a special relationship. There is nothing to worry about”
“I don't think we have” (President Trump when asked about his Truth Social post about “losing India”)
“I get along very well with (Indian PM) Modi as you know, he was here a couple of months ago, we went to the Rose Garden”.
To this, on Saturday morning, the prime minister broke his silence by saying, “Deeply appreciate and fully reciprocate
Deeply appreciate and fully reciprocate President Trump's sentiments and positive assessment of our ties.
India and the US have a very positive and forward-looking Comprehensive and Global Strategic Partnership.@realDonaldTrump @POTUS https://t.co/4hLo9wBpeF
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) September 6, 2025
It is decidedly confounding that these two statements are being interpreted as an “opening” for rapprochement or even “ceasefire”. These exchanges, in themselves, suggest nothing beyond an attempt by India, that obviously seeks to stabilize the relationship before it reaches a point of no return, to set a floor.
Given Trump’s unpredictability, and the eagerness of his motormouth generals to prove who is more boorish on India, the prime minister has taken an unmistakable risk by reacting to comments that Trump may summarily disown tomorrow. Yet it is a risk worth taking.
In selecting a positive set of comments to break his silence (ignoring the negative bits), Modi hopes to incentivize positivity, and trigger a virtuous news cycle that may goad the mercurial Trump into taking a more conciliatory position given that he understands two basic
One, the strategy to make India bend under pressure is counterproductive. Threats, abuses, and punitive measures will only serve to make Indian public opinion more hostile towards the US.
Two, a strong relationship is in both parties’ interests. India is a strategic partner of the US, not a vassal, supplicant or client state that depends on American benevolence for survival or security. A far better way to make the partnership work is to engage India on the basis mutual interest and respect.
As the MEA spokesperson pointed out on Friday at the press briefing in New Delhi, the “relationship between the United States and India is very important for us. Both our countries share a Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership, which is anchored in our shared interests, democratic values and robust people-to-people ties. This partnership has weathered several transitions as I have said before and challenges. We remain focused on the substantive agenda that our two countries have committed to. And we hope that the relationship will continue to move forward based on mutual
What Modi’s comments and external affairs minister S Jaishankar’s remarks, reinforcing the prime minister’s sentiment, do is send a signal to Washington DC that escalation is in no one’s interest, abuses won’t be tolerated but friendly gestures will be reciprocated with warmth.
It would be a mistake to interpret Modi’s overtures as a sign of weakness or desperation. India’s Russian oil purchases are set to rise in September and the finance minister put it on record
These are signs of understated resolve without the theatrics, not weakness. Keeping alive the channels of communication even at a challenging time is pragmaticism. No interest is served by completely burning bridges with the US. The prime minister has thrown a diplomatic gauntlet for Trump to pick up. Whether or not the US president does so remain to be seen, but India is quite ready to play the waiting game.
The picture isn’t over yet.
The writer is Deputy Executive Editor, Firstpost. He tweets as @sreemoytalukdar. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views.
