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Unpredictable America
Today, India and the US have never had greater reasons to be friends. There is an unprecedented convergence of values and interests. On the one hand, the White House claimed to have struck a “diesel deal” with Vladimir Putin over the phone, promising that sanctions on Moscow would be lifted. At the same time, it has threatened India with tariffs of up to 100 per cent for buying Russian energy.
Washington has shut Infosys, TCS and Wipro out of America’s green card pipeline, accusing them of abusing the visa system. Indian talent was the one export America seemed to want. That is certainly no longer the case. India must therefore respond neither with wounded pride nor with exaggerated defensiveness. On tariffs, trade and talent, the task is to bargain rather than beseech. That means conceding where our interests allow and holding firm where they do not. Thus, we can show Washington that India has options in Europe, the Gulf, East Asia and the Global South, even if it has no substitute for America. One must also remember that affection is not a strategy; leverage is. So, we should not abandon our partnership with America. Instead, we should prepare for an America that remains immensely powerful and profoundly consequential. Whether India can build a lasting partnership with America in the coming years is a crucial question.
Iqbal Saikia,
Guwahati