‘Damage is done’: Fareed Zakaria on worsening India-US relations under Trump 2.0 | World News

The decision US President Donald Trump’s adminration to penalize India for buying Russian oil while finalising oil deal with Pakan has led to trust deficit in New Delhi, said journal Fareed Zakaria on CNN. In his analysis, Zakaria said that it could act as a turning point in the relations between the United States and India.
In one of his analyses on ‘biggest foreign policy make Trump 2.0’, Zakaria said that the US strategic outreach towards India has been in a bipartisan manner over the past 25 years but the carefully built diplomatic progress has been “undone” in a few weeks Trump 2.0. Meanwhile, he argued that Delhi may begin to dance itself from Washington and recheck its global alliances, which have become multi-aligned under PM Narendra Modi’s leadership.
During his segment on CNN, Zakaria said “Indians believe that America has shown its true colors, its unreliable, its willingness to be brutal to those it calls its friends. They will understandably feel that they need to hedge their bets. Stay close to Russia, and even make amends with China.”
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Zakaria said that India, which has followed the policy of nonalignment for a long period, came close to the United States in over last two decades, with a landmark visit former President Bill Clinton in 2000, followed George W Bush adminration recognising India to be treated with the likes of great power like Britain, France and China and signing a horic nuclear deal under former PM Manmohan Singh.
Zakaria added that former President Barack Obama’s pivot to Asia and his adminration’s bid to support India to become a permanent member of the UN Security Council also marked a turning point in the two countries’ relations.
Detailing about Trump’s first tenure and Joe Biden’s presidency, Zakaria said, “Trump also embraced and promoted his personal relationship with Prime Miner Modi. President Biden built on the Trump legacy, forging greater cooperation in defense and economics. India began planning to cooperate with the US in the manufacture of everything from fighter jets to computer chips.”
But the efforts have been “undone” and the trajectory of a camaraderie between New Delhi and Washington have been reversed in Trump 2.0, feels Zakaria. According to him, now even if the Trump adminration tries a course correction, the “damage is done”.