President Donald Trump’s coercive tariffs on India and indulgence of Pakistan have turned euphoria about India-US partnership under his leadership into bewildered dismay and rage. The sequence and the corrosive language suggest that tariffs are a manifestation and expression of problems beyond trade. It also betrays our lack of economic leverage unlike China’s. Various reasons have been attributed to his decisions that do not bear repeating here. There is politicisation of the relationship in the US not seen in the past three decades, with the White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, a Make America Great Again (MAGA) ideologue, joining the chorus of criticism on India’s purchase of Russian oil.

In India, there is domestic political impact due to the huge investment in the relationship; geopolitical ramifications because of the strategic bets we made in a shifting global environment; and, economic consequences from setback to exports and foreign direct investment (FDI) flows. Of equal concern is Pakistan. There have been multiple short-lived U-turns in the US-Pakistan relations that do not end well for either. But, every time US-Pakistan relations improve, Pakistan is emboldened in its military adventurism and terrorism against India. Pakistan also hopes to capitalise on President Trump’s obsession with peace-making to inveigle him into mediating the ‘Kashmir issue’.

The government has been rightly firm on red lines for its sensitive sectors and sovereign choices, yet restrained in statements and open to negotiations. For a number of reasons, this is not a 1998 moment, but there are lessons from it. Amidst an absolute freeze then, India chose engagement over........

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