Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan
India navigated relations with the United States quite skilfully during the first Trump administration, better than many other US allies did. Doing so a second time will be more difficult, but India’s strategic awareness and manoeuvrability will help it work with Donald Trump’s America once again.
The chaotic early months of the Trump administration have shown Washington’s partners that they must carefully navigate relations with the US for the next few years.
Indo-Pacific partners will likely fare better than European ones, as China appears to be a key and continuing concern for the US. And among Indo-Pacific partners, India probably stands to do better than others. India generally and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in particular show strong understanding of the game when they refrain from reacting to Trump’s negative comments.
This is unusual: the Modi government has usually been somewhat sensitive to outside criticism. Modi may be looking to the day when Trump moves on from whatever unpalatable comments he makes.
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