DC Edit | India Must Live Down Threats From Trump & US
From Venezuela to trade threats, Trump’s coercive diplomacy reshapes global power equations
The world was witness to a most modern form of imperialism as American troops stealthily swarmed Nicolas Maduro’s presidential compound in Caracas and made him a captive of its justice system on its soil on a charge of narco-terrorism.
The scenario, post the US action, plotted meticulously by Trump-led forces, is a throwback to the days of the East India Company when the subcontinent was forced to trade on colonial terms and lost all its riches, the only difference being that it is Venezuelan oil that the US, a latter-day conquistador, is asserting its rights over currently.
Having rechristened the 1823 Monroe doctrine that first spelt out US claims over the Western Hemisphere, Trump is now casting his eyes on Colombia, whose President Gustavo Petro might have already been earmarked for the special Maduro treatment, Cuba and even Greenland, a semiautonomous territory held by Nato member Denmark, which is an ally of the US.
Far from bringing about any drastic regime change, the US, under CIA advice, has been content to let the Maduro regime loyalists, including his vice-president Delcy Rodriguez who is now President and head of state, rule on as they seem best suited to carry out US orders on the Venezuelan petroleum trade. The Trump administration is acting like an imperial mafia whose goal is extortion rather than as a world power that was supposed to help protect and preserve the rules-based international order.
Adding insult to injury at a time of extreme geopolitical swings, Trump fulminated some more on India’s preference for Russian crude that had been tapered down on his promptings but remains his pet peeve for not letting talks on a free trade deal fructify though talks are ongoing. It is apparent that Trump is not inclined to act quickly on the India FTA and he might soon have far more on his hands in the year of the midterms in which even his MAGA base must feel somewhat insecure.
It is clear Trump has been letting things ride while he continues to crack the whip on one of the few nations, along with China and Brazil, that has been standing up to him, defying his diktat to sign on the dotted line for buying American corn and dairy products in return for an FTA. India is, however, on a bit of firm ground here as sectors more critical to American interests like IT services, generic pharma and electronics, especially iPhones, are exempt from the FTA framework, and that suits India too.
If his domestic compulsions dictate that Trump keeps India hanging though the tariff of 25 per cent plus an additional 25 per cent have been in place since August 2025, there is little India can do save hope that diversified export destinations help the Indian exporter tide over and that the losses in US exports they are now bearing in not passing on to the consumer will not be excessive.
It is easy enough to mock the bonhomie of the “Namaste Trump” and “Howdy Modi” days, but is there anything that India can do or offer the US that would satisfy a whimsical and transactional President now that even his yearning for the Nobel Peace Prize may have dissipated after his Venezuela foray in which the global peacemaker transformed into a marauder acting through his department of war?
