In international diplomacy, subtlety, mutual respect and an understanding of geopolitical nuance are key to building lasting partnerships. Under President Donald Trump, however, these principles often take a backseat to a transactional, ego-driven approach. Nowhere is this more evident than in the frayed relationship between the US and India, marked by a breakdown in trust, growing strategic divergences, and a misreading of India’s geopolitical red lines.

At the center of this deterioration is Trump’s fixation on projecting himself as a global dealmaker and peacemaker, a strategy driven in part by his not-so-subtle ambition to win the Nobel Peace Prize. This personal aspiration, combined with a heavy-handed use of economic pressure via tariffs, pose a formidable threat to America's ties with its allies as shown in the case of India.

Misreading India's strategic autonomy
A telling incident reflecting a grave India-US disconnect occurred in New Delhi, as reported by Washington Post, when Trump’s top adviser on India, Ricky Gill, was having dinner in New Delhi with former Indian diplomats. "Though he was in town for a global security conference, the conversation turned, inevitably, to Trump’s souring relationship with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, according to two people familiar with the matter. Indian officials were expressing frustration that trade negotiations had been upended; they were also angry that Trump kept claiming credit for resolving the country’s recent military confrontation with Pakistan," Washington Post reported.

"Indian officials were expressing frustration that trade negotiations had been upended; they were also angry that Trump kept claiming credit for resolving the country’s recent military confrontation with Pakistan," Washington Post reported. "Gill, the National Security Council’s senior director for South and Central Asia, tried to assuage the former diplomats, assuring them Washington still viewed New Delhi as a crucial partner, according to the two people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations. But Gill noted there was one thing irritating Trump’s team: Why were the Indians still obsessing over how the conflict in May had ended? The diplomats were “surprised” by the question, the people familiar said. India has made no secret of its long-standing position that issues with Pakistan, its nuclear arch-rival, should be handled bilaterally."

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Trump has repeatedly boasted that it was his intervention that de-escalated the India-Pakistan conflict during Operation Sindoor. This isn’t just a case of diplomatic overreach. It is a miscalculation that strikes at the core of India’s doctrine on handling Pakistan bilaterally. For decades, India has insisted that it permits no third-party mediation in India-Pakistan affairs. By inserting himself into the narrative, Trump not only ignored this long-held position but also risked undermining India's sovereignty in the eyes of its own population and strategic community. India was livid at Trump equating Pakistan, a perpetrator of terror, with India, a victim of that terror.

Trump's narrow personal agenda is ruining India-US relations
Parallel to this geopolitical misunderstanding is Trump’s habitual use of tariffs to achieve foreign policy aims. For Trump, this is part of his broader strategy of economic coercion, a belief that tariff threats would compel nations to yield to any kind of US demands. However, the assumption of the Trump team that nations and their leaders are driven solely by economic motivations has proved to be wrong as India has refused to flatter Trump by agreeing to his false claim of brokering peace between India and Pakistan.

India is not easily bullied. With a long-standing tradition of non-alignment and strategic autonomy, Indian policymakers were deeply offended by the assumption that trade threats could dictate foreign policy shifts. Trump’s belief that India could be pressured into acknowledging his version of the Pakistan ceasefire, or into other concessions, with an economic stick only widened the rift.

The fallout is real and immediate. Rather than drawing India closer, Trump's approach is pushing it to hedge its bets. India has begun recalibrating its foreign policy, getting even closer to Russia and improving limited coordination with China. These shifts signal a reversal in long efforts that have gone into forging of India-US partnership.

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Moreover, Trump’s overtures to Pakistan, culminating in the unprecedented lunch with Pakistan's army chief Asim Munir, sent shockwaves through New Delhi. For Indian officials, this was not just bad optics; it was a betrayal. After years of building a shared Indo-Pacific vision with the US, and deepening military and intelligence cooperation, India saw itself being sidelined in favour of a short-term public relations win.

Underlying all of this is Trump’s desire to portray himself as a global statesman. His repeated claims of resolving conflicts, from North Korea to the Middle East, often bear little resemblance to reality. In South Asia, the disconnect was especially stark. By claiming he "coerced" India into peace, Trump not only dismissed India’s strategic autonomy but also tried to rewrite regional history to serve a narrow personal narrative.

Such distortion isn't just diplomatically clumsy, it is also strategically dangerous. It has led Indians to question the reliability of the US as a strategic partner. For a relationship that had taken decades to mature -- spanning defense, intelligence and economic cooperation -- this erosion of trust is a serious setback.