MyVoice: Views of our readers 8th September 2025

Trump’s change of tactic

It will take a few weeks and months to know whether US President Donald Trump’s statement affirming the “special relationship” between India and the US was mere verbal gymnastics or represented a reversal of histhinking on India. The maverick and unpredictable President that he is, Trump makes inconsistent statements. He says one thing today and just the opposite the next day. On Friday he said, ‘The US lost India to China’ and on Saturday he said, ‘I don’t think we have lost India’. It is difficult to deal with Trump as consistency is not one of his virtues. Trump finds no contradiction between heaping scorn on the country and heaping praise on its top leader. Or was he simply paying backhanded compliments to sound genuine while making overtures to India. True to the saying ‘once bitten, twice shy’, Prime Minister Narendra Modi reciprocated with a measured remark and abundant caution. Trump seems to have realised that he bit more than he could chew and softened his stand on India. His lamentation that the US lost India and Russia to ‘the deepest and darkest, China’ appears to be a tacit admission of his imposition of high tariffs on India consequent to its refusal to stop the purchase of Russian oil, his claim that he brokered peace between India and Pakistan during the Sindoor Operation and his resentment at India’s lukewarm response to his appeal to recommend him for the Nobel Peace Prize pushing India to move close to China. In the process Trump burnt the bridges with India and got his fingers badly burnt. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s avoidance of a public confrontation with his ‘true friend’, his not attending the Chinese military parade, his decision to give a miss to the BRICS summit being convened to discuss and decide on a joint retaliation against the US tariffs may have put in his head the wisdom of holding out an olive branch to India and reviving bonhomie with Modi. Trump is unlikely to succeed in soothing India without lowering the choking tariffs significantly and winning over the Modi government before retracting its mediation claim that put it to great embarrassment domestically in this time of nationalist sentiments. Trump must follow up his dialing down of diatribes against India with action to salvage and strengthen India-US ties. On its part, the Modi government must rework its foreign policy to assert its strategic autonomy and play its rightful role on the international stage. A policy of non-alignment would be in India’s and the world’s best interest.

G David Milton,Maruthancode (TN)

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The USA President Donald Trump is apparently trying to make amends for all that he did by targeting only India for importing crude oil from Russia, despite sanctions! But, is Trump trust worthy? Definitely not, because he is using all avenues to defeat NDA and thereby Narendra Modi. The Team Trump is using the American Deep State and all its cronies in India in this regard. By stating ‘always friends’, Trump can’t deceive Modi who is more alert than ever before. Perhaps Trump feels that Indians fall easy prey to anything and are prone to backstabbing.

Govardhana Myneedu,Vijayawada

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been decent and gentlemanly in his response to US President Donald Trump’s new approach “always be friends” remark; and has reciprocated Trump’s sentiments in lofty terms. PM Narendra Modi has been gracious enough, despite the ‘blow hot – blow cold’ attitude of Donald Trump against India – even now the attitude has yet to be meaningfully established as new ideas are in the making on part of Trump to harass and punish India, on the overseas US projects being handled and serviced by the IT professionals from India that would mean creating even more difficulties to India. The mentality of a ‘jealous wife syndrome’ to be prevailing on part of Donald Trump must logically end, in the wake of India meaningfully extending the hands of friendship with China and Russia for its economic survival . There is a need for more clarity on part of the US vis-à-vis logical and long term friendly relations with India; about which the nation is not averse.

S Lakshmi,Hyderabad

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With the exchange of right kind of words indicating positive feelers between the heads of Indian and US governments, a thaw in the Indo-US ties after it hit rock-bottom ever since Trump’s stiff 50% tariffs on Indian goods, is apparent. But, the trustworthiness of an impulsive Trump, and therefore the recent development’s longevity seems apparently uncertain. People like Trump can only be dealt with on ‘one day at a time’ basis. India must be wary about being taken away by Trump’s present meltdown towards India.

Dr. George Jacob,Kochi