The relations between New Delhi and Washington are on a downturn after Trump doubled tariffs on Indian goods to a whopping 50 per cent, including a 25 per cent additional duties for India's purchase of Russian crude oil.
No experts, clearly, were involved in the design of these new tariffs, which have been the subject of bemused wonderment across the world in how completely they ignore logic, rationality, fairness, and economic theory, observes Mihir S Sharma.
Former White House trade advisor Peter Navarro accuses India of being an 'oil money laundromat' for Russia, alleging that India's oil purchases are funding Putin's war in Ukraine. The accusations come amid existing trade tensions and tariffs imposed by the US.
Trump has played throughout his career as a deal-maker who could deliver where others could not, and Ukraine represents the ultimate test of that image, notes Manish Dabhade.
India's annual oil import bill could rise by $9-11 billion if the country is compelled to move away from Russian crude in response to US threats of additional tariffs or penalties on Indian exports, analysts said. India, the world's third-largest oil consumer and importer, has reaped significant benefits by swiftly substituting market-priced oil with discounted Russian crude following Western sanctions on Moscow after its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
India's purchase of Russian oil has risen to 2 million barrels per day in August, as refiners continue to prioritise economic considerations in their sourcing decisions. As much as 38 per cent out of an estimated 5.2 million barrels per day of crude oil imported in the first half of August came from Russia, according to global real-time data and analytics provider Kpler.
'Indian refiners can operate without Russian crude from a technical standpoint, but the shift would involve major economic and strategic trade-offs'
"India is not only buying massive amounts of Russian Oil, they are then, for much of the Oil purchased, selling it on the Open Market for big profits," Trump said in a social media post on Monday.
'We are too important to want to be paired with Pakistan but too intensely connected to it to successfully detach ourselves,' asserts Aakar Patel.
The heated exchange between Trump and Zelenskyy and the resulting outpouring of support for the Ukrainian leader highlighted the deep fissures that have emerged between America and Europe over Ukraine.
Trump has a major decision to take in coming days -- specifically, how to rescue Israel from the attritional war that lies ahead, points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Russian officials and state media on Saturday celebrated United States President Donald Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodomyr Zelensky's unprecedented clash at the White House.
Several US companies, including McDonald's, Walmart and Facebook parent company Meta, have ended or scaled back their DEI programmes since Trump was elected in November last.
US President Donald Trump cut short discussions with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday after he and Vice President JD Vance confronted Ukraine's leader in a tense Oval Office exchange.
US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy engaged in a heated exchange in the Oval Office, culminating in Zelenskyy's abrupt departure from the White House without signing a crucial minerals agreement. Trump accused Zelenskyy of risking millions of lives and gambling with World War III, while Zelenskyy responded by questioning the US's role in the war. The incident has strained US-Ukraine relations, with Trump questioning Zelenskyy's readiness for peace and Senator Lindsey Graham expressing doubts about future cooperation.
President-elect Donald Trump promised his supporters and countrymen that he will act at historic speed to fix every single crisis facing the United States, on the eve of his inauguration. Trump told his supporters at the Capitol One Arena, which was full to its capacity of 20,000 for a 'Make America Great' victory celebration, that he will act with "historic speed and strength" and fix "every single crisis facing our country." He also outlined some of his plans for his first day in office, including halting the "invasion" of the US border and restoring border security measures, which he said will be the most "aggressive, sweeping efforts to restore our borders the world has ever seen."
Donald Trump is expected to sign a series of executive orders upon taking office, including those related to immigration, border security, energy and governance. These orders are intended to implement Trump's policy priorities, including restricting immigration, increasing energy production, and streamlining government operations. The executive orders will include declaring emergency on the southern border, preparing military deployment on the borders, classifying cartels as "foreign terrorist organisations", reinstating the "Remain in Mexico" policy, ending the "Catch and Release" policy, and declaring emergency related to energy. Trump is also expected to roll back some of the executive orders and actions of outgoing President Joe Biden, such as the Paris Climate agreement, lifting restrictions on fossil fuel production, and expanding domestic oil drilling.
Biden said the US will continue to escalate sanctions if Russia escalates.
'Putin dreams about his legacy. He wants to forcibly restore the Russian empire.' 'Unfortunately, after three years of large-scale war with massive human losses, Putin will not budge from his goal because human life is the cheapest resource in the Russian State.'
A peace keeping role for India is a distinct possibility. Indian military has both the numbers and experience to carry out this job, observes Colonel Anil A Athale (Retd).
Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, Donald Lu, was speaking to members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, just after India had abstained from a vote on the United Nations General Assembly resolution.
The ISI strategy has been to use its proxies to target Hindus in India. They want an outrage and counter-targeting of India's minorities. Further, even the whiff of it restores the Pakistan army's popularity, especially when it's in the dumps, like now, points out Shekhar Gupta.
The China threat continues to resonate in the strategic partnership between India and the USA, points out Rup Narayan Das.
'For the past number of weeks, you and I have found ourselves at odds about the best path forward for Canada'
A fan invasion in the opening match of the Olympic football tournament between Argentina and Morocco on Wednesday caused chaos, with Argentina eventually beaten 2-1 following a VAR review after play was suspended with the score tied at 2-2.
Trumponomics, poor growth, and high valuation certainly don't make a bullish recipe for Indian markets, warns Debashis Basu.
'He needs to see results while he is in office.'
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Apulia to attend the Outreach session of the G7 Summit and hold bilateral talks on a wide range of issues with world leaders on Friday.
Indian-American Republican leader Nikky Haley has endorsed her former boss Donald Trump as the party's candidate for the presidential election, delivering the message of unity after their bitter rivalry during the presidential primary.
Joined by high-profile figures like Tesla owner Elon Musk and his running mate, Senator JD Vance, Trump (78) made a passionate plea to "defeat" Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate in the November 5 presidential poll.
According to the original timeline, the ships were to be delivered by 2022, they said, attributing the delays in the delivery to Russia's war in Ukraine.
The G7 summit, to be held in the luxury resort of Borgo Egnazia in Italy's Apulia region from June 13 to 15, is likely to be dominated by the raging war in Ukraine and the conflict in Gaza.
After the October 7 attack by Iranian-backed Hamas forces on Israel, the United States military has blamed other Iranian-backed proxy groups for near-daily attacks against its forces in Iraq and Syria.
Zelenskyy said this particular medal was awarded earlier this year to a Ukrainian officer for heroism on the battlefield. The officer met Zelenskyy in Bakhmut and asked him to give his medal to President Biden as a token of his gratitude for America's military assistance to Ukraine during the invasion.
'As we enter 2025, it must be acknowledged that there is a convergence of capital, influential people (from business and politics) and technology deciding the destiny of others in the name of pride, patriotism, nationalism, nation building, all of it thinly veiled disguises for personal profit and glory,' asserts Shyam G Menon.
US President Joe Biden, who arrived in a surprise visit to Kyiv on Monday, reaffirmed America's unwavering commitment to Ukraine's democracy, sovereignty, and territorial integrity.
If military power is all it would take to finish the menace of an awful terrorist organisation like Hamas, how come five Israeli wars in Gaza since 2003 have failed to do so? asks Shekhar Gupta.
Any miscalculation and miscommunication are fraught with the risk of a major catastrophe, warns Rup Narayan Das.
