(Chapter 3)
India’s Friend Donald J. Trump.
The President of the USA, Donald J. Trump, in his second term in the White House, has announced various “friendly” measures towards India.
For instance, in August 2025, Trump imposed a 25% reciprocal tariff on Indian exports and then an additional 25% penalty specifically because India kept buying Russian oil, hitting 50% total. This is among the highest levied on any US trading partner.
Furthermore, over a thousand Indians were deported on charter flights, handcuffed and shackled. This was contrary to the laws of India, where physical restraints on a person are illegal unless there is a possibility of violence or a history of attempting to escape. This treatment was held to be against human dignity and therefore contrary to Article 21 of the Constitution of India.
The United States has also announced a one-time visa fee of US $100,000 for all new H-1B visa applications. Information technology (IT) professionals from India are the largest recipients of H-1B visas, receiving more than 70 per cent of those issued in 2024. The next largest group is from China, which received 12% of the visas. As stated, the Trump administration is very friendly towards India; hence, it clarified that the new visa fees will not apply to existing holders, nor to the renewals of existing visas. It will apply only to future applicants.
US lawmakers said measures undertaken by the Trump administration, such as the USD 100,000 fee on H-1B visas and 50 per cent tariffs on India, “hurt” American businesses and threaten people-to-people ties between Washington and Delhi.[^1]
Hellhole
Trump called India a “hellhole” in April 2026, and this was the derogatory post that Marco Rubio was questioned about during his May 2026 India visit.
The attempt on Trump’s life at the Hilton hotel in April 2026 was barely covered internationally. The May 24 attack near the White House will be harder to suppress. Two attempts in such a compressed time signal something worrying about the internal stability of the nation.
The hellhole irony is perfect. Trump reposted that description of India. Now there is gunfire near the White House. So, who is in the hellhole?
Slurs
Richard Nixon (in the 1970s) had called Indians “pathetic” and “sexless,” said Indian women were “the most unattractive in the world,” called Indira Gandhi a “witch,” and Henry Kissinger called Indians “a beastly people with a beastly religion.” Trump’s improvement was that he chose not to personally insult Prime Minister Modi, but he used cuss words for India as a whole.
Trump labeled India’s economy as “dead” and said: “They (India and Russia) can take their dead economies down together, for all I care.” He lumped India with Russia as “dead economies.”
On 31 August 2025, Peter Navarro, White House trade advisor and chief architect of Trump’s trade policies, used a colonial slur against India while defending 50% tariffs on Indian exports. He said:[^2]
“India is nothing but a laundromat for the Kremlin… You got Brahmins profiteering at the expense of the Indian people. We need that to stop.”
Americans themselves criticized him. American national security expert Derek J. Grossman said, “Fomenting caste unrest in India should never be US foreign policy.”
The fact is that Navarro, too, like the viceroys of old, demanded that India stop trade that benefited India but didn’t benefit the US.
Lutnick dismissed India’s tariffs as “all bravado” and predicted India would soon “say sorry.” He called India’s Russian oil imports “ridiculous” and “plain wrong,” giving India a choice: support the US or face a 50% tariff. Days after the US Supreme Court struck down Trump’s tariffs, Lutnick quietly flew to New Delhi unannounced. He had lunch, posted a photograph, and left without a deal.
Pakistan
Trump’s relationship with Pakistan has undergone a complete reversal from his first term to his second term. In his first term (2017-2021), Trump famously said Pakistan had given the U.S. “nothing but lies and deceit” and cut off all military aid. Under the Biden administration, the relationship remained frozen—Biden never even called Imran Khan when Khan was Pakistan’s Prime Minister (2018-2022).3
Trump hosted a closed-door lunch meeting at the White House with Field Marshal Asim Munir in June 2025. Munir is the first Pakistani military leader who has not imposed martial law to have a one-on-one meeting with the U.S. President. Imagine the President of the USA sitting down with a military officer who is not a head of state.
Trump has publicly called Pakistan’s Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir (appointed Chief of Army Staff November 29, 2022, elevated to Field Marshal) “my favorite field marshal.” [^4]
Asim Munir has visited the White House and met President Trump at least three times in the past year. The first visit was on June 18, 2025 (a Wednesday); the second visit was in August 2025 (August 5-7) to attend the CENTCOM change of command ceremony; and the third visit was on September 25, 2025 (a Thursday) when Munir presented President Trump with a wooden box of samples of critical rare earth minerals.
In March 2025, Pakistan created a Crypto Council with a Minister in charge of Crypto. In April 2025, Pakistan’s Crypto Council signed an agreement with World Liberty Financial, a company in which Trump’s family holds a 60% stake. Trump never denied this stake. In May 2025, Pakistan’s Crypto Minister, Bilal bin Saqib, attended a Crypto event in Las Vegas and said that he wanted to recognize Trump for being the president who saved crypto. Later, Saqib also held a meeting at the White House with US officials in June 2025.
Love for India
On 23 May 2026, at the US Embassy’s 250th Independence Day celebrations (America’s semiquincentennial) at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi, Sergio Gor dialed President Trump live on speakerphone and held the phone to the microphone so the entire audience could hear. President Trump said:
“I love the Prime Minister. Modi is great. He’s my friend. I just want to say a very good evening to everybody. I am a big, big fan of Prime Minister Modi.”
He also said:
“We’ve never been closer to India, and India can count on me 100% and our country. If they ever need help, they know who they call. They call right here. We’re doing well. We’re setting records. We have a record economy, a record stock market, and anything India wants again. And I’m a big, big fan of Prime Minister Modi.”[^5]
It is a strange love. It had to be expressed on a speakerphone where the whole world could listen except for the person for whom the love is expressed. Remember, Prime Minister Modi was not present at this party.
After the Asim Munir White House lunch, the “hellhole” repost, the 50 percent tariffs, and with VanDyke now in NIA custody, the geopolitical landscape is fraught. Yet, Marco Rubio arrived in India carrying an invitation for PM Modi to the White House. PM Modi appearing at the White House carries a domestic political cost that needs to be offset by something concrete in return. None is offered.
But benevolence is blind, like love. In the next chapter, we shall discuss the USA’s ambassador to India, Sergio Gor.
References: