One of the most searched topics on the internet these days is tariffs. After US President Donald Trump made remarks hinting at impending action, stakeholders across geographies have been trying to make sense of these tariff lines. However, there is no reason why Bharat should give in to the demands of the quixotic President Trump, who has been holding forth with the media twenty-four-seven.

Trump also seems to be in a tearing hurry to make an early impact as the head of a Republican White House. Hence, he set the 2 April deadline to impose massive tariffs on Bharat’s export of products and services.

The issue of tariffs has been ongoing since Donald Trump’s first term four years ago when he went ahead and imposed tariffs on steel products, pharmaceuticals, and other goods. There is definitely an imbalance in trade. The advantage lies with Bharat, as the US has a trade deficit of $45.6 billion on bilateral trade worth $191 billion.

India has reportedly made some proposals to rework economic, trade, and investment relations between the world’s largest and oldest democracies. One approach could be to enhance defence purchases worth $20 billion by Bharat. Another possibility is to increase imports of energy products, including LNG and other hydrocarbons.

However, the US may not be able to seize the window of opportunity opened by Bharat during bilateral engagement. Firstly, the US defence establishment and deep state may not facilitate the sale of F-35 fighter aircraft to Bharat. A significant section of the US administration remains wary of even floating a joint venture to co-produce F-35 aircraft with a non-NATO strategic ally like Bharat.

This joint venture, possibly based out of Bhagyanagar........

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