India cheered Trump’s return, now it’s worried

Cooling ties: Modi posing with Trump during a meeting in New Delhi in 2020. Even before the latter’s inauguration, jitters about US-India relationship had begun to replace complacency with first signs of trouble showing up in immigration. — AFP

EVEN as recently as November, when the US election outcome was clear, the mood in India was optimistic. The Hindu right wing, which supplies Prime Minister Narendra Modi with some of his most ardent supporters, held religious ceremonies to celebrate Donald Trump’s win.

Many in the analyst community cheered from the sidelines, expecting India to be a net beneficiary of new tariffs of 60% on all Chinese exports to the United States, which is what the president had promised during his campaign.