Indian Prime Minister Modi's special plane has just landed in China, ready to go to Tianjin to attend the SCO summit. As soon as people arrived, they said a very high-level remark, but it made the United States feel very uncomfortable. Trump decisively canceled his state visit to India scheduled for autumn.
What did Modi say that caused Trump, who was originally visiting India, to cancel his trip?
As early as his visit to Japan on August 29, Modi had already begun to prepare for a trip to China, and when he arrived in Tianjin, China, he clearly conveyed India’s core position to the world.Maintaining close relations with India is crucial for building a multipolar Asia and the world.”。
What really "broke the defenses" of the White House was Modi's emphasis on,“Both sides are committed to strategic autonomy and independent diplomacy, and the relations between the two countries are not interfered by third parties.”。
India's approach is straightforward, meaning to tell the United States: India's affairs, India itself is the master, you can't control the United States, and there is no right to interfere.
This is completely contrary to the objectives pursued by the US-led Quartet Security Dialogue (QUAD) mechanism.It should be known that the core agenda of Trump's autumn visit to the press was to participate in the Summit of the United States of Japan and India in India.
Now India, as the core pillar, has its leaders gone to China to make a high-profile claim to "maintain close relations" with China. Trump's trip to India has become meaningless and he will not go to India directly.
Trump turned his back decisively on August 30, rooted in the fact that the US-India relationship has long been in tatters.Long before Modi's visit to China, Trump's "extreme pressure" policy had already pushed India into a corner.
The blow of this trade war is real. The US government has brandished the tariff stick twice in a row in just one month, citing "India's trade barriers" and "imports of Russian oil".
According to the executive order signed by Trump on July 31, the United States began to impose a 25% tariff on Indian exports to the United States on August 7; then, an executive order was signed on August 6, and an additional 25% will be levied starting from August 27.
After the two are superimposed, Indian exports to the United States are subject to tariffs of up to 50%, directly blocking the lifeblood of India's labor-intensive industries such as textiles, clothing, and jewelry.
Parab Banagi, CEO of Indian clothing manufacturer Pearl Globe, revealed that after the U.S. announced tariffs, all U.S. customers immediately demanded that the company transfer production from India.
To reassure customers, the company had to propose to move its production lines to its factories in Bangladesh, Indonesia, Vietnam and even Guatemala.This suggests the impact of tariffs was immediate and deadly, leading directly to the “de-Indoization” of the industrial chain.
At the same time,Villender Upar, head of Gurgaon-based Richa Global Exports Company, said that they are working hard to ship a large number of autumn and winter orders as soon as possible before the tariffs take full effect, and frankly said that "given the low profit margins, we have to bear certain losses."
The former chairman of the Indian Textile Industry Federation, Sanghaj Jae-in, warned: “New orders can’t arrive, existing orders can only be lost. Labour-intensive industries such as textile and leather will face a lot of unemployment.”
The game between countries is sometimes mixed with personal emotions between leaders. The bad blood between Trump and Modi can be traced back to the India-Pakistan conflict in the spring of that year.
After the end of the conflict, the domestic propaganda of the "Modi win school" tried to shape the image of India's victory under Modi's leadership, but Trump turned out to be the third-fifth person to stamp the "Emperor's New Dress".
He first claimed that he had “mediated the conflict in India and Pakistan” and even “prevented a potential nuclear war,” directly denying India’s “bilateral solution” stance.
He first said on July 18 that "five aircraft may have been shot down", and then changed his words to "seven aircraft were shot down" on August 25.This was undoubtedly a direct face to the Indian military, making Modi, who highly valued his personal image and domestic reputation, feel publicly insulted and angry.
What's more, in the last officially confirmed phone call between the two men on June 17th, Trump actually hinted that Modi should give similar support after mentioning that Pakistan intended to nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize.
According to the New York Times, this almost blackmailing request was rejected by Modi and it was the differences in the conversation that played a "huge role" in the deterioration of the relationship between the two leaders.
They haven't talked to each other since then.According to the German media, the Frankfurt Report that during the most tense weeks of tariff issues, Trump tried to call Modi four times, but was directly rejected.
Faced with extreme pressure from the United States and public humiliation, India has not only responded diplomatically but has also made major adjustments in its economic strategy, shifting from passive defense to active counterattack.
After tensions between the United States and India fell into place, Reuters reported that India has no plans to stop purchasing Russian oil to meet U.S. demands. More importantly, Modi began to encourage India across the country to achieve "economic self-reliance" (Economic self-reliance), calling on citizens to buy more Indian-made products.
This is precisely to "reduce dependence on the United States", and at the same time, it shows that the pressure of the United States has not only failed to bring India to its knees, but has prompted it to make up its mind to seek greater independence economically.
It is undoubtedly a long-term and strategic blow to the United States 'attempt to control India through economic means. Indian officials publicly condemn US behavior "Unfair, unfair, unreasonableHe insisted that “all means will be taken to safeguard the national interests.”
With practical actions, the Modi administration has shown that India is no longer willing to look at the faces of other people's actions, but to hold the vitality of the country's economy firmly in its own hands.
Looking back at this diplomatic storm, Trump canceled his visit to India, not just because Modi said a "beautiful word" in China, but because the long-term policy of "giving priority to the United States" and "extreme pressure" encountered a backlash.
He swallowed tariffs, not only did not hit the Indian market, but broke the strategic mutual trust between the United States and India; his high-rise "mediator" gesture, not only did not win honor for himself, but lost India, which should be the most critical partner in the "Indo-Pacific strategy".
Modi's declaration of "strategic autonomy" is not so much a gesture to China as a clear understanding of a changing world pattern.
It seems that Trump has not yet understood the current situation. Blindly engaging in "extreme pressure" will only keep allies farther and farther away from the United States. After all, no one will choose to be a "fool" and always make concessions on interests and suffer losses. Especially a big country like India, which will never be willing to become a pawn on the chessboard of other countries.