By Ramesh Thakur at Brownstone dot org.

For the purposes of containing China's influence and aggressive behaviour across the Indo-Pacific theatre, there is no more important partner for the US than India. And vice versa. Unfortunately, that strategic partnership is under threat from an explosive combination of American arrogance and unilateralism and Indian hubris and prickliness.

There is no future in attempts to ground the relationship by relegating India to a US vassal state instead of a respected partner. Matters have not been helped by the propensity of the two countries' leaders to braggadocio and narcissism.

While President Donald Trump might be better known for the latter trait, Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi outmatched him when he hosted President Barack Obama in May 2015 in a suit with his name stitched into the fabric in an endless loop to form the pinstripes.

On 30 July, Trump imposed 25 percent tariffs on India. The next day, he posted on Truth Social that he didn't care if India and Russia 'take their dead economies down together.' On 6 August, he announced an additional 25 percent tariff as penalty for India's purchase of Russian oil. The hefty tariffs, among the highest in the world, came despite many signals from both sides that they were close to finalising a deal.

The consummation never came. India exports around 20 percent of its goods to the US and Indian experts estimate Trump's tariffs will hit exports worth around 2 percent of GDP. The threat of an additional 10 percent against members of the non-Western BRICS grouping, of which India is a founding member, remains.

At various times, Modi has embraced Trump as a 'true friend,' 'dear friend,' and 'great friend of mine.' But tariff king Trump has no permanent personal attachments, only shifting transactional interactions in search of the next good deal for America. Every country engages in foreign policy trade-offs between moralism and self-interest and also between competing interests.

Not all refrain from castigating others who elevate national interests above international principles. India gives priority to the energy needs of its poor over the selective moralism of EU and NATO countries. India's negotiating culture of long, drawn-out haggles over every item in minute detail clashed with Trump's big picture on the spot deal-making.

Their strategic cultures also collide. With such a stiff impost on India, Trump is reversing 25 years of bipartisan efforts on both sides to expand and deepen bilateral ties and build a strategic partnership that can act as a counterweight to China in the Indo-Pacific. If not resolved, the trade tiff could damage both India's economic and US strategic ambitions.

India has an unmatched capacity to look an opportunity firmly in the eye, turn around, and walk off resolutely in the opposite direction. The US has shot itself in its strategic foot by imposing a 50 percent tariff wall on Indian imports. The sudden chill in a bilateral relationship that had promised so much at the start of the year reflects missteps and missed signals on both sides that are rooted in part in Trump's narcissism and Modi's hubris.

Modi came to believe his own hype of India as the fastest-growing major economy and seduced the people with India's great power delusions. The hype will turn into reality if and when more Indians start returning to the country than leave for greener pastures abroad. Meanwhile, the call centres and spam artists have caused immense reputational damage.

India did not make it into Forbes' list of the ten most powerful countries in 2025, beaten into 12 place behind the likes of Germany, South Korea, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Israel, and the United Arab Emirates, and just ahead of Canada. The ranking methodology used five factors with equal weight: leadership, economic influence, political influence, strong international alliances, and military strength. India outside the top ten is not the only suspect score.

Another anomaly on ...