India, Once America’s Counterweight to China, Is Now Facing Trump’s Wrath
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/06/business/india-china-trump-tariffs.html
With threats of tariffs up to 50 percent, President Trump seems to be scrapping America’s plan to turn India into a counterweight to China, declaring instead that it is a “dead economy.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/06/business/india-china-trump-tariffs.html
With threats of tariffs up to 50 percent, President Trump seems to be scrapping America’s plan to turn India into a counterweight to China, declaring instead that it is a “dead economy.”
Democracies snubbed, dictators courted: Inside Trump’s embrace of Pakistan by Michael Rubin
https://www.aei.org/op-eds/democracies-snubbed-dictators-courted-inside-trumps-embrace-of-pakistan
In his second term, Trump has staked out an opposite position. He approached Pakistani terrorism and its Indian victims with moral equivalency and even dined with Pakistan Army Chief Asim Munir, mastermind of the Pahalgam massacre, at the White House. Just as intelligence operatives recruit and compromise targets with either blackmail, bribes, or buffeting ego, so too did Islamabad handle Trump, telling him how much he deserved a Nobel Prize and entrancing Trump with notions of gas deals.
The numbers do not lie. On July 31, 2025, Trump slapped 25 per cent sanctions on India, greater than Pakistan (19 per cent), Bangladesh (20 per cent), Sri Lanka (20 per cent), and Afghanistan (15 per cent). Trump treats India with disdain, belittling its economy and privileging countries like Pakistan and Sri Lanka that are Chinese satrapies and Bangladesh and Afghanistan that are hubs for Islamist terror. Each of those countries to which Trump offers better terms ranks well below India on Transparency International’s annual corruption index.
https://www.aei.org/op-eds/democracies-snubbed-dictators-courted-inside-trumps-embrace-of-pakistan
In his second term, Trump has staked out an opposite position. He approached Pakistani terrorism and its Indian victims with moral equivalency and even dined with Pakistan Army Chief Asim Munir, mastermind of the Pahalgam massacre, at the White House. Just as intelligence operatives recruit and compromise targets with either blackmail, bribes, or buffeting ego, so too did Islamabad handle Trump, telling him how much he deserved a Nobel Prize and entrancing Trump with notions of gas deals.
The numbers do not lie. On July 31, 2025, Trump slapped 25 per cent sanctions on India, greater than Pakistan (19 per cent), Bangladesh (20 per cent), Sri Lanka (20 per cent), and Afghanistan (15 per cent). Trump treats India with disdain, belittling its economy and privileging countries like Pakistan and Sri Lanka that are Chinese satrapies and Bangladesh and Afghanistan that are hubs for Islamist terror. Each of those countries to which Trump offers better terms ranks well below India on Transparency International’s annual corruption index.
Related:
https://www.economist.com/asia/2025/08/03/pakistans-army-chief-is-cosying-up-to-donald-trump
https://www.economist.com/asia/2025/08/03/pakistans-army-chief-is-cosying-up-to-donald-trump