Arrogance Breeds Isolation

It now seems it is not India that has lost the United States — it is the United States that has lost the ability to engage India with respect, maturity and foresight. What we see today is not the collapse of a friendship, but the exposure of Washington’s arrogance. A country that once championed the idea of a democratic partnership has chosen instead to use trade as a weapon, wield tariffs as punishment and unleash the rhetoric of intimidation. By slapping 50 per cent duties on Indian goods, while turning a blind eye to the far larger volumes of Russian crude oil imported by China, the US has exposed the double standards that have long been its hallmark. For decades, Washington has attempted to cast itself as the guardian of global order, but it is quick to abandon rules and fairness when they do not serve its interests. India, with its growing economy and strategic weight, cannot be treated as a vassal to be disciplined, nor can it be lectured for pursuing an independent foreign policy that balances energy security, economic growth and sovereign choice. The fury of Washington, channelled through trade penalties and offensive language from its officials, underlines a deep insecurity: the realisation that India is no longer pliant, no longer dependent and no longer prepared to accept diktats from across the Atlantic.

The theatre of outrage over discounted Russian oil imports is less about morality and more about money. The US establishment knows well that India’s decision to buy Russian crude has been dictated by pragmatic national interest, by the simple arithmetic of securing affordable energy for a nation of 1.4 billion people. Yet Washington has sought to transform this economic necessity into a political crime. In truth, what unsettles the American administration is not India’s oil trade, but the spectacle of India asserting its own path. The same US that justifies its own wars of choice, that has intervened across continents under dubious pretexts, now wishes to punish others for exercising sovereign agency. And in its pursuit of punishment, it has revealed its own weakness. The decision to exempt China from similar tariffs, even though Beijing is by far the largest buyer of Russian crude, exposes the hollowness of Washington’s claims. The calculation is plain: America does not have the courage to confront China economically, so it seeks an easier target in India. This is not a show of strength, but an admission of fear. It is an attempt to discipline India precisely because New Delhi refuses to bend, and precisely because the India of 2025 cannot be coerced in the way it might have been in earlier decades.

The long-term consequences of Washington’s missteps will be far greater than any immediate tariff revenue it collects. India will not forget that in its hour of economic strain, the US chose to punish rather than partner. At the very moment when global challenges demand collaboration — from stabilising energy markets to reforming supply chains to tackling climate volatility — Washington has reduced the relationship to threats and penalties. The arrogance of believing that India can be pushed into isolation by crude economic coercion betrays a complete misunderstanding of India’s place in the world. New Delhi today is central to Asia’s growth story, integral to the Global South’s aspirations and pivotal to any stable multipolar order. The ties India builds with Russia and China, through forums like the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, are not about conspiracies against the West but about constructing alternatives to an order that has been monopolised and misused by the West itself. The image of India’s Prime Minister walking hand-in-hand with leaders of Russia and China is not a betrayal of democracy but an affirmation of sovereignty, a reminder that India will choose its partners and priorities on its own terms. By lashing out with tariffs and insults, the United States has ensured only one outcome: it has pushed India further away, cemented distrust, and made clear to the world that American friendship is conditional, transactional and brittle. For India, the lesson is equally clear — the future lies in self-reliance, regional solidarity and partnerships that recognise equality, not in appeasing a power that sees allies as subjects and cooperation as submission.