A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Ahead of last year's presidential election in the U.S., many onlookers in India said they were rooting for candidate Donald Trump. But now President Trump is seen in India as an American bully, after he threatened to double tariffs to 50% to pressure India to change course with Russia. NPR's Diaa Hadid has more.
DIAA HADID, BYLINE: An expected trade deal between India and America stalled, apparently over India's insistence on protecting its agricultural sector.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: What people don't like to say about India - they're the highest tariff nation.
HADID: That's Trump on CNBC in early August. He also attacked India because it is a major buyer of Russian oil. Last year, India bought more than $47 billion worth.
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TRUMP: We settled on 25%, but I think I'm going to raise that very substantially over the next 24 hours because they're buying Russian oil. They're fueling the war machine.
HADID: Soon after, Trump announced he'd double tariffs to 50% if India did not stop buying Russian oil. The Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, said he would not be cowed.
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PRIME MINISTER NARENDRA MODI: (Speaking Hindi).
HADID: Since then, there's been small protests demanding boycotts of American products.
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UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: (Chanting in non-English language).
HADID: Anchorwoman Palki Sharma seemed to sum up a national mood.
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PALKI SHARMA: The deal is off; the tariffs are on. India is standing its ground. It has chosen strategic autonomy over succumbing to Trump's bullying.
HADID: Strategic autonomy...
SRINATH RADAVAN: Is sort of written into India's DNA.
HADID: Srinath Radavan is a historian of contemporary India. Strategic autonomy, he says, is India deciding its own stance on particular conflicts and not falling in line with other countries. That resolve emerged with the creation of modern-day India in 1947.
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UNIDENTIFIED NARRATOR: Long years ago, we made a tryst with destiny.
HADID: Independence came after more than a century of rule by the British, who used India's blood and treasure to fight their wars.
RADAVAN: India was taken in without even a hint of consultation about what Indians wanted. So for an independent India, it was very important never to be in that kind of relationship.
HADID: But as much as India wanted an independent foreign policy, during the Cold War, it inched closer to the Soviet Union - partly because India's arch-rival, Pakistan, was a U.S. ally. Events came to a head in 1971 when India and Pakistan went to war and...
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: President Nixon had dispatched the 7th Fleet, led by the world's largest warship - a desperate move to threaten Indian forces.
HADID: In this sympathetic retelling, India asked the Soviet Union for help. And Moscow sent a flotilla with orders...
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Not to allow the advancement of the American fleet.
HADID: So in the days following Trump's threat to double tariffs, many Indians touched on the events of 1971, when America tried to bully India and Russia came to their rescue. India's friendly relations with the U.S. began in the late '90s, with Washington hoping it would align with the West's agenda, including to contain China. In the decades since, the countries have drawn closer in trade, in tech, in military relations, in intelligence sharing. The problem is, analysts say, Trump isn't interested in that strategy of drawing India closer.
ASHLEY TELLIS: I think what his priority at the moment is is essentially correcting America's trade deficits.
HADID: That's Ashley Tellis. He used to be a senior Indian affairs adviser at the State Department. And because Trump worries about trade deficits...
TELLIS: India moves from being a priority to a problem.
HADID: For now, Tellis says, the Indian prime minister is falling back on strategic autonomy - or you could call it hedging bets. India is still negotiating with Washington for a trade deal. India is also still buying Russian oil. Perhaps pointedly, India's top intelligence chief has said that Vladimir Putin will visit India this year. And the Indian prime minister is expected to visit China later this month after years of strained relations. Tellis says.
TELLIS: What he's trying to do is essentially mollify the Chinese, to try and put some building blocks for a potential rapprochement in place.
HADID: A rapprochement to have in hand in case relations sour even further with Trump.
Diaa Hadid, NPR News, Mumbai. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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