One of the reasons behind Washington’s punitive tariffs on New Delhi is that US President Donald Trump is miffed with India for ignoring his so-called role in brokering a peace deal with Pakistan following the military conflict in May, said former diplomat Vikas Swarup. The former High Commissioner to Canada, who is also a renowned author, described the United States’ current relationship with Pakistan as a short-term, tactical arrangement driven largely by financial interests, while stressing that US-India ties remain strategic.
“We have to understand why these tariffs have been imposed. I feel that there are three reasons. One, Trump is not happy with India because we are a member of BRICS, and somehow, in his head, he has got this notion that BRICS is an anti-American alliance which is hell-bent on creating an alternative currency to the dollar. So, because of that, he feels that India should not be a member of the BRICS,” he said during an interview with news agency ANI.
“We have been saying right from the beginning that Trump had no role because we do not accept external mediation. This ceasefire was mediated directly between the DGMOs of Pakistan and India at the request of the DGMO of Pakistan. Trump has now said almost 30 times that it was he who got the two countries to stop back from the brink, who stopped a nuclear conflagration in the subcontinent. So, he is miffed that India has not acknowledged his role, whereas Pakistan has not only acknowledged his role but has even nominated him for a Nobel Peace Prize,” he added.
India had carried out Operation Sindoor in early May in response to the Pahalgam terror attack and carried out precision strikes on terror infrastructure in Pakistan and PoJK. India had repelled subsequent Pakistani aggression and pounded its airbases.
Swarup noted India has not caved in to the US pressure in trade talks to provide more access to the country’s agriculture and dairy sectors, and Washington is exerting pressure tactics to get India to agree to its maximalist demands.
“This is part of his pressure tactics to get India to sign on the dotted line on the maximalist demands that the US is making with regard to access to our dairy and agriculture, and genetically modified (GM) crops. We have not caved in, and it is also in a way a signal to Russia because he is also frustrated that he has not been able to get President Putin to agree to the ceasefire that Zelenskyy has agreed to,” he said.