Some events occur twice in history—the first time as a comedy and the second as a farce. American President Donald Trump is both. On July 30, the reality-TV-host-turned-tariff-tyrant dropped a 25 percent economic bomb on Indian exports, while peddling a pack of diplomatic lies claiming he brokered peace between India and Pakistan. Trump traded fist bumps with Islamabad for backstabbing New Delhi. His economic ambush is engineered not for America, but for himself. Trump is wooing Pakistan’s petroleum pushers and crypto cartels, planning pipelines and payment platforms that bypass scrutiny to boost his wallet. His net worth went up $600 million in a year, and his ethics down a black hole.
This nefarious act coming from the man who once embraced Narendra Modi in a stadium-sized spectacle of dollar-packed NRIs; his purred sweet-nothings like “true friend” and “great leader” stink of hypocrisy today. Trump, the transactional demagogue, has entered into a bromance with Pakistan, which continues to nurture terror camps in its backyard. Behind the orange facade and MAGA mutterings lies a man motivated not by morality, but by dollars to shore up his shady empire.
His alliance with Pakistan’s General Syed Asim Munir Ahmed Shah is a calculated conspiracy cloaked in cowardice, dragging India back into the nightmares of old. Remember 1971, when Richard Nixon dispatched the formidable aircraft carrier USS Enterprise to bully India during the Bangladesh war? Indira Gandhi didn’t blink. India didn’t bend. And history remembers the one who stood tall. This time, history repeats not as farce, but as warning. Trump is Nixon in a red tie, siding with Islamabad again. The only difference this time is that the US is standing with Pakistan with tariffs and tweets. But India, then and now, refuses to bend.
Trump’s treachery is a double-edged sword. His tariff missile, fired last week, targets India’s $87 billion exports to the US, its top trade partner, risking an estimated $7-billion hit. POTUS justified it by citing India’s 70 percent duties on US motorcycles and 12 percent trade-weighted tariffs. He has branded India a “big abuser” eight times since February 2025 and dubbed it a ‘dead economy’ along with Russia. Trump also concocted a story that India had stopped sourcing oil from Russia. He falsely claimed India offered a “no-tariff deal”, which S Jaishankar rebutted: “Deals must be mutually beneficial.”
The new tariff regime betrays the trust built since 2017, when Modi and Trump forged a bond with Modi’s warm embrace at the White House, Trump’s 2020 ‘Namaste Trump’ spectacle in Ahmedabad, and Modi’s US visits marked by mutual praise. Bilateral trade surged to $120 billion by 2024. During the last meeting between Trump and Modi in February, the Indian PM offered tariff cuts to avert reciprocal duties and set a $500-billion trade goal by 2030. But later, Trump’s ceasefire lies during Operation Sindoor—claims of stopping a “nuclear war” and fabricating “five jets shot down”—humiliated India while shielding Pakistan. On top of it, Trump hosted Munir at the White House, where he boasted, “I stopped a nuclear war.” Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri was quick to counter: “Modi told Trump no US mediation occurred.”
The American president is peddling pompous porkies about “orchestrating” peace between India and Pakistan. Spoiler alert: he did no such thing. As Modi thundered in a historic 20-hour Lok Sabha debate, “No foreign leader dictated India’s actions in Operation Sindoor.” The truth is that India dictated the attack. The terror camps operating from Pakistan were obliterated. Modi morphed into a modern-day Mahabharata warrior, flanked by Jaishankar the Justifier and Rajnath the Relentless. They exposed how Pakistan came crawling after India’s missiles levelled nine terror nests and sent 100 terrorists to hell.
LoP Rahul Gandhi grumbled, accusing Modi of meekness, but coming off as clueless. “If Modi has even an inch of Indira’s iron, let him call Trump a liar,” he scoffed. Modi didn’t call him a liar, he lit him up like Diwali, recounting how Vice President J D Vance’s veiled warnings were batted away. Jaishankar jabbed, demolishing Trump’s trade fiction: “No linkage, no leverage, no lie can stand.” Rajnath roared, praising the precision strikes: “We avenged the Pahalgam massacre in 22 minutes.” Congress collapsed, caught clutching Trump’s fairy tales as Modi marched with the soldiers. DMK’s Kanimozhi conceded that the opposition “lost sight of our soldiers’ bravery”. While Modi’s team held the line in parliament, Yogi Adityanath roared in the UP assembly, “India’s markets are for allies, not aggressors.”
POTUS’s retaliatory tariff double-whammy is aimed at India’s $1.4-trillion market and Global South leadership. Modi’s ‘developed India by 2047’ vision demands autonomy, not subservience. According to UNCTAD, Trump’s tariffs will push developing nations towards regional ties. India’s diversified exports like pharmaceuticals and apparel can pivot to Asia and Europe. Trump’s “big abuser” label could spark a Global South backlash, with India leading BRICS against US hegemony. India is not alone—BRICS is rising, ASEAN is watching, and Europe is recalibrating. If Trump persists, India could deepen BRICS ties, leaving him to regret losing a vital ally.
Trump’s tariff trickery is a double-cross dressed in diplomatic drag. His justification is that India imposes “high duties” on Harleys and ham. Trump’s billionaire bravado has boosted his brand but burned bridges with India, Japan, Canada and even Nato. His lies and tariffs betray a friend while fattening his empire. His economic expansionism hitting 14 nations with 25-40 percent tariffs and threatening BRICS serves his wallet more than America’s. Trump’s adventurism may even weaken the US-aided international cartel of academics, civil servants, corporate tycoons and elite social activists who influence key economic and strategic decisions in various countries.
Trump’s posturing, profiteering and pathological lies mark him as a global bully, not a guardian of democracy. This isn’t America First; this is Trump First. His tilt toward Pakistan gives new wind to terror networks. It revives the 1970s’ playbook: isolate India, cozy up to Islamabad, and pretend at peacemaking. But contemporary India is no underdog. It is en route to a $3.9-trillion economy, is the world’s largest democracy and a cornerstone of the Global South.
The message to Washington should be that India will not be baited, bought or bullied. If POTUS wants to play Nixon’s Goliath then India will once again play Modi’s David, armed not with slingshots but with economic leverage, diplomatic grit and strategic alliances far beyond the American orbit. India, under Modi, stands defiant and undeceived. With its 1.4 billion consumers and $120 billion trade stake, India demands respect.
Modi’s parliamentary victory proves India’s resolve. It will outsmart a bully whose treachery threatens global stability. So go ahead, Mr Trump, play Nixon. Play your petty games in Mar-a-Lago, Scotland and Islamabad. But don’t forget: India’s memory is long. India resists. And India will rise. When the dust settles, the world will see who the friend in flesh was and who the fraud in the fire.
Read all columns by Prabhu Chawla
PRABHU CHAWLA
prabhuchawla@newindianexpress.com
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