What did India gain from Trump?

It should be assumed that those who think alike can come to the same decision. As such, the Indian Prime Minister and the US President should not find it difficult to forge a mutual understanding. This is not to hint at their common interest in playing with acronyms like MAGA and MIGA, changing the names of places, making headlines, or even claiming personal credit for past achievements. On the contrary, both of them openly uphold the attitude of putting their own country first. Therefore, it is to be expected that the decisions made by Narendra Modi and Donald Trump through direct talks will be equally beneficial for both countries. The Indian Prime Minister will have no reason to oppose the US when it says that illegal Indian immigrants will still be sent back. At the same time, the US President should not at least be reluctant to agree when India demands that they not be sent in chains on military aircraft again. However, it is not easy to answer the question of whether the two leaders have reached mutually agreeable and beneficial understanding in the trade relations that have been mainly discussed. What Trump has gained from India is no small feat. India has agreed to significantly increase oil and natural gas imports from the US. As a result, we may also have to reduce our purchases of cheap gasoline from US-embargoed Russia. In this, India will have more harm than good. India has also agreed to buy war material worth several billion dollars from the US. It was reported that as soon as Trump became US president for the second term, the Indian Prime Minister wanted to meet him in person and the President said that he wanted India to buy fighter jets. Modi has now agreed to buy a number of F-35s, which even Elon Musk, Trump's right-hand man today, described as too bad and too expensive. Observers see no advantage for India here either.

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It seems that Trump has managed to uphold his own country's interests by making PM Modi agree to these purchases and reduce India's "unfair tariffs". It is natural for him to try to reduce America's trade deficit with India. It is not difficult to understand either his putting more pressure on India for the same reasons. However, the Indian Prime Minister should have been convinced that America needs India more than India needs America. Like China and Russia, America is targeting the big market of India. That is how we have resisted America's commercial supremacy for so long. There is also the question of whether it would be fair to eliminate the trade deficit altogether. India can raise a stronger complaint than the US can raise about the trade deficit - about the injustice of dollar supremacy which the US maintains by using pressure. Trump's opposition to alliances like BRICS comes mainly from the desire to maintain the monopoly of the dollar and the determination to continue the exploitation it makes possible. The Indian government has an obligation to take a firm stand in this regard.

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Strengthening relations with any country is also good for us, but it should not be achieved through unilateral compromise. Nor should it be by compromising the country's legal system. The Indian Prime Minister's response to a reporter's question during a media briefing at the White House reinforced the allegation that the Modi government is in the grip of crony capitalism. US government departments recently launched legal action against Adani Group, alleging that Adani paid more than $25 crore in bribes to Indian officials to favour the Adani Group's solar projects, a violation of US law. The Trump administration has suspended the project for three months. When a reporter asked if the Adani issue was brought up in his conversations with Trump, PM Modi gave an evasive response and spoke about the principle of 'Vasudhaiva Kudumbakam' (the world is one family) and said that personal matters are not discussed between the heads of state. However, this evasion was more eloquent than any reply. Discussions between the leaders of the states can and should be in accordance with the interests of the respective states. But comparing what we have received from America and what we have agreed to give away, the information available so far does not give any reason to be happy.

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