Relevance : GS Paper II
Theme of the Article
With decisions that adversely affect India, the Trump administration fails to distinguish friend from foe.
Why has this issue cropped up?
The Donald Trump administration’s recent actions threaten the foundation of trust and flexibility on which India-U.S. relations are premised.
Evidences of distorting Trump policies
The Trump administration’s insensitive approach towards its allies in Western Europe by denigrating the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the European Union (EU), threatening to impose tariffs on EU goods in connection with trade disputes and Europe’s relations with Russia, and Washington’s unilateral withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal that roiled its European partners are all evidence of this policy.
Recent India- US relations
- Earlier U.S. was actively wooing India as a strategic counterweight to China.
- The term ‘Indo-Pacific region’ appeared prominently in the joint statement issued in June 2017.
- Since then, it has come to replace the term ‘Asia-Pacific region’ in American foreign policy jargon.
- In May 2018, the Pentagon changed the name of the U.S. Pacific Command to U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, emphasising not only the strategic linkage between the Indian and Pacific Oceans but also the geo-political prominence of India in the U.S.’s Asian strategy.
- However, the Trump administration seems to have reversed course in recent months. U.S. unilateral actions on three fronts have simultaneously demonstrated what amounts to downgrading India in American strategy.
- The announcement on April 22 by U.S. Secretary of State that Washington would not renew after May 2 the exemption that it had granted India and seven other countries regarding import of Iranian oil was one sign that American unilateralism had trumped coherent strategic thinking.
- The second leg of this tripod is the U.S. threat to impose sanctions on India if it buys the S-400 missile defence system from Russia for which a deal had been signed in October 2018.
- The third and latest instance of unwelcome U.S. pressure was the announcement on May 31 that, beginning June 5, India will be removed from the preferential trade programme, known as the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP), which gives developing countries easier access to the U.S. market and lowers U.S. duties on their exports.
Are above actions justified?
- Taken together, these three decisions indicate that Washington is impervious to Indian strategic concerns and economic interests despite its earlier pronouncements that it considers India a valued “strategic partner”.
- These decisions are part of a unilateralist syndrome that currently afflicts American foreign policy.
- US no longer seems to discriminate between friend and foe when making important policy decisions. Such an attitude does not bode well for the future of America’s relations with its friends and allies.
- Washington appears to have overlooked the fact that even the “indispensable nation” needs reliable friends and allies.
Conclusion
India should subtly communicate to his interlocutors that the international system is becoming progressively multipolar, thus increasing foreign policy options available to Indian policymakers.
