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India's foreign policy establishment has long pitched Washington as its most critical strategic partner. Defense pacts, intelligence cooperation, and joint military exercises - particularly naval drills in the Indo-Pacific - were presented as evidence of deepening ties.

But Trump's tariff threat now lays bare a fundamental truth: this relationship is still largely transactional, not transformational.

It was under Trump's first term that India lost preferential trade benefits under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP). Tariff disputes escalated. US tech firms battled India's data localization laws. Now, the threat of 25% duties shows that the US remains willing to punish India economically, regardless of strategic rhetoric.

What kind of“major defense partner,” as India is officially designated, faces the same hardball tactics reserved for adversaries?

And then came Trump's battlefield commentary. During a campaign stop, Trump repeated a now-familiar claim: that he helped broker peace between India and Pakistan during their May 2025 conflict, and that five fighter jets were downed during the standoff.

India has never publicly confirmed such losses. Pakistani officials, however, have claimed they downed multiple Indian Rafales. Trump's statement - true or not - undermines India's narrative of military supremacy.

When the world's most recognizable political figure asserts that India lost five jets, and India cannot decisively refute it, it casts doubt on New Delhi's transparency, competence, and strategic control.

Reputational damage

This double blow - economic coercion and military humiliation - has serious consequences for India's legitimacy in the Indo-Pacific.

India wants to be seen as a credible counterweight to China, a regional anchor for democratic values and security cooperation. But if its most important Western ally is treating it as a disposable trading partner and publicly amplifying its military setbacks, that legitimacy suffers.

Smaller regional powers - from Vietnam to the Maldives - will begin to ask: Can India really lead? Or is it a middle power still vulnerable to both US pressure and Chinese encirclement?