When President Donald Trump announced that India would face a 25 per cent tariff from August, alongside a penalty for purchasing arms and energy from Russia, the declaration arrived wrapped in the language of friendship strained by what he called “unfair trade”. This is a show of power that India must neither accept nor bow before.

The choice of words—“fair-weather friend”—is no accident. It points to the price India is now asked to pay and the doubt that shadows any promise of friendship offered under conditions. In Washington’s telling, the bond holds only if India aligns its choices with American preferences, buys what it is told, and distances itself from long‑standing partners deemed inconvenient to the US. What is described as a partnership seems priced by the fare demanded today and whether India will bend tomorrow.

American economic statecraft is transactional and impulsive. Today it is India’s energy security and its historic ties with Russia. Tomorrow it could be another independent choice that offends Washington’s mood. Such conditional friendship cannot be the foundation of a long-term partnership.

This should compel India to question not just trade terms but the very nature of the relationship. If threats and tariffs replace respect and dialogue, then the essence of partnership is hollowed out. Friendship should rest on mutual respect, not on the fear of sudden penalties.

For India, the lesson must be clear: a sovereign nation cannot barter critical choices—from who supplies its energy to how it shapes its digital future—simply to appease a partner that might turn tomorrow. India’s course must reflect its own strategic calculus and democratic priorities, not the turbulence of another country’s mood swings.

These tariffs will sting, of course. But they are far from an existential threat. Instead, they should serve as a wake‑up call to confront the structural challenges we have too often deferred. For years, we have delayed reforms that would give our industries greater internal agility, help manufacturing scale globally,........

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