Former foreign secretary Kanwal Sibal offers a blunt, unsentimental diagnosis of India’s uneasy engagement with the Trump White House: this is not diplomacy as usual, but statecraft conducted around one man’s ego, instincts, and transactional impulses.
At the centre of the latest turbulence is President Donald Trump’s threat of additional tariffs on countries trading with Iran and Russia. Sibal cautions against panic. Past sanctions regimes have carved out exemptions for humanitarian trade—food and medicines—because punishing civilian populations only delegitimises sanctions and invites global backlash. If those exemptions remain, India’s Iran trade largely stays within permissible limits. If they don’t, the damage will not stop with India; it will ripple through energy markets, destabilise West Asia, and ultimately hurt the United States itself.
Sibal’s larger argument is sharper: tariffs are being wielded as a political weapon without regard for consequences. That may work in the short term, but countries will adapt—seeking alternatives to dollar-dominated systems and insulating themselves from American financial coercion. Even senior US voices now concede that this leverage may not last another decade.
So why has India, once seen as a Trump “success story,” landed in his crosshairs? Sibal points to a mix of ego and geopolitics. Trump’s fixation on personal credit—particularly over India-Pakistan de-escalation—collided with New Delhi’s refusal to validate exaggerated claims. Add to this Trump’s shifting West Asia calculus, a renewed courtship of Pakistan, and irritation at India’s refusal to offer headline-grabbing trade concessions. The result: pressure tactics dressed up as policy.
Yet the relationship is far from broken. Strategic cooperation continues because it must. China’s rise, Silicon Valley’s dependence on Indian talent, deep corporate investments, defence ties, and a five-million-strong Indian diaspora anchor the partnership. Washington wants to “manage” and squeeze India, not discard it.
India’s response, Sibal argues, has been pragmatic: say no where interests diverge, cooperate where they align, and above all, don’t react to every provocation. With Trump, silence is often strategy. Ignore the noise, keep the fundamentals intact, and let him ramble.
Finally, should India be worried, particularly with Trump’s overtures to Pakistan? Watch the full interview to find out.
