Bitterness has been clearly visible in the relations of America and India for some time. Meanwhile, after imposing 50 percent tariff on India, US President Donald Trump has also canceled his Indian tour. A recent report by the New York Times claimed that the US President has no program to visit India at the Quad Summit. The report published in the US newspaper on Saturday cited sources associated with Trump’s program.
According to the report, Trump had informed the first Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi that he would come to India at the end of the year, but now he has canceled this plan. At present, there is no official response from both the US and India governments on the claim made in this report.
Actually, India is going to host the Quad Summit later this year. Earlier, the Trump administration held a meeting of Quad Foreign Ministers in January, at the same time when Trump started his second presidential term.
Bitterness in Indo-American Relations
The report states that the relationship between Trump and Modi is deteriorating amidst business tensions. The repeated claims of Trump, especially, have made the situation more complicated. Trump is constantly claiming that he had helped to resolve a four -day military conflict between India and Pakistan in May. However, India has constantly rejected these claims.
According to the New York Times, the claims of President Trump resolving the Indo-Pakistan War, offended Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It was the beginning of stress. Modi’s patience towards Trump was gradually decreasing.
On June 17, the talk was 35 minutes on the phone of both leaders
On June 17, a 35 -minute phone call was made between the two leaders. This call took place when Trump was returning from the G-7 summit in Canada to Washington. PM Modi was also present in this summit. The plan was that the two leaders would meet face to face during the conference, but Trump returned soon. Before departure, the Indian Prime Minister interacted with Trump over phone.
India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Egypt said in a video message from Canada’s Kananaskis that Prime Minister Modi clearly told Trump that there was neither any discussion on the US-India trade agreement nor there was no proposal for American mediation in the Indo-Pakistan struggle. The Egyptian had said that the ceasefire had a conversation between the armed forces of India and Pakistan through the existing military channels, which was initiated by Pakistan.
Egyptian had told that PM Modi strongly told President Trump that India does not accept any arbitration in the struggle between itself and Pakistan.
Nobel Prize’s ambition and conflict
According to the report, during the June 17 call, Trump once again took credit for ending the Indo-Pakistan war and claimed that Pakistan is planning to nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize. Former President Barack Obama has received this award and now Trump is running an open campaign for this.
The report said, “According to sources, Trump’s indication was that Modi should also support him.”
However, Modi dismissed the claim outright and said that America had no contribution in the ceasefire and it was solved directly between India and Pakistan.
Trump ignored Modi’s objection, but the Indian Prime Minister not supporting Trump’s Nobel campaign became an important reason for the rift in the relationship of the two leaders.
White House never confirmed phone calls
The report also said that the White House never publicly accepted this call nor did Trump share it on social media. Since May 10, Trump has publicly claimed more than 40 times that he stopped the Indo-Pak war.
The report mentioned, “This story is also of the US President who wants to get the Nobel Prize. But his desire collided with the most sensitive and firm reality of India’s politics- the struggle between India and Pakistan.”
25% tariff punitive step on India?
According to the report, the US President decided to impose 25 percent tariff on India to buy oil from Russia. The newspaper wrote, “Instead of reducing the huge fines imposed on India or a consistent effort to stop Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war, it is because he did not listen to America.”
Richard Roso, India chairman at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said, “This issue is more than Russia. If it was a change in the policy of squeezing Russia, Trump could support the secondary restrictions imposing secondary restrictions on Russian hydrocarbons buying countries. It is only indicating India to target that it is more than Russia.
At the Center for Strategic and International Studies, India Affairs President Richard Rosso said that the issue is not only related to Russia. He said, “If it was a policy to pressurize Russia, Trump could support laws in which it was a secondary ban on countries buying Russian hydrocarbons. But India separately targets that the matter is not only about Russia.”
The newspaper further claimed that when the tariff talks came to a standstill, Trump tried to contact Indian Prime Minister Modi several times. But Prime Minister Modi did not respond to his calls.
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