President Donald Trump has expressed supreme confidence that there will be “no difficulty” in reaching a successful trade conclusion with India, a sentiment that clashes sharply with the reality of his administration’s simultaneous proposal to hit the country with 100% tariffs. This stark disconnect between public rhetoric and policy action creates a deeply uncertain environment for US-India relations.
In a social media post, Trump spoke of continued negotiations to address trade barriers and his eagerness to speak with Prime Minister Modi. “I feel certain that there will be no difficulty in coming to a successful conclusion for both of our Great Countries!” he wrote.
However, at the same time, his officials were in meetings with the EU to roll out a plan for punitive 100% duties on Indian and Chinese goods. This policy is explicitly designed to punish India for its economic ties to Russia, a move that would seem to create immense “difficulty” in any parallel trade talks.
This paradoxical approach could be a negotiating tactic, using the tariff threat as leverage to extract concessions in the trade deal. But it is a risky strategy that could easily backfire and erode trust. The situation is further complicated by the fact that the Supreme Court may soon remove the tariff threat from the table altogether.