Friendship in words, pressure in deeds — an ordinary Indian’s questions on India–US ties
- Is Modi’s friendship with Trump a strength or a weakness?
- Tariffs and visa curbs are breeding resentment
- Where is the recognition for Indian talent?
- Trump’s embrace of Pakistan hurts every Indian
- Modi must stand firm against American pressure
Friendship in words. Why the pressure in deeds?
Is America our friend? If so, why does it treat us this way? That question comes to me every time I read the news from Washington. Trump calls Modi a friend. He praises India. Then he piles on tariffs. Visa restrictions follow. He cosies up to Pakistan and invites its army chief, Asim Munir, to the White House. Watching all this, one wonders what this friendship actually means.
I work in the newspaper industry, so I read the news and follow events closely. That does not make me a foreign-policy expert or an economist. But as an ordinary Indian, the way America deals with us raises questions in my mind. The same questions come up whenever I talk to friends and colleagues. Relations between nations involve many calculations, I know. My question is simple: where, in all those calculations, is the place for our country’s dignity and our people’s future?
Do we need America more than it needs us?
We are told that relations with America are essential. That is true. Our trade, our educational ties and our job opportunities there are not small. By America’s own official count, trade in goods and services between the two countries came to about 240 billion dollars in 2025. The same year, America sold India goods and services worth about 88 billion dollars. So America benefits from this relationship too. Our market matters to it. Then why do we talk as if only we need them, as if only we must adjust?
Source: USTR – India trade figures
Watching Trump’s style, one gets the feeling that he sees India less as a partner deserving equal respect and more as a country that will bend under pressure. That is my opinion. I cannot know what is in his mind. But when friendship shows in words and hostility shows in deeds, is such a doubt not natural?
Citing India’s purchases of Russian oil, he raised tariffs on Indian goods to a total of 50 percent in August 2025. Is a country to be punished for deciding its energy needs on its own terms? India’s Ministry of External Affairs condemned the move as unfair. And now the US House of Representatives has passed a bill that empowers the president to impose tariffs of up to 100 percent on countries buying Russian oil. This came just days after the BRICS summit in Delhi. Whether Trump uses that power or leaves it alone is entirely his choice. In other words, a sword now hangs over our heads. I will not say the Indian government has not responded at all. But I do not see from Prime Minister Modi the kind of firm political response one expects. Why are the words about friendship with Trump so loud, and the words about our objections so faint?
Source: AP on the tariffs and India’s response; CNBC on the 100 percent tariff bill
Their children’s future there, parents’ anxiety here
Consider the young people studying and working in America. Some are still waiting for an H-1B. For some, the OPT clock is running out. Even after finishing their degree and landing a job, they cannot be sure they will be allowed to stay. Every news item about visa rules sets off worry among parents here. Years of hard work, the money spent on education, the plans made for the future — what will become of them?
This is not a matter of a few families. The Open Doors report for the 2024–25 academic year counted 3.63 lakh Indian students in America, including those on post-study OPT. India tops the list of international students there. With so many futures at stake, would parents not want to know what our government is doing?
Source: Open Doors 2025 report
America gains from Indian talent too
Yes, our people find opportunities there. But their work and skills benefit America as well. According to the US National Science Foundation, about a million Indian-born workers held science, technology and engineering jobs in America in 2023. That is not the total count of Indians across all sectors, but it is enough to show their contribution. Is it wrong to expect stability and fairness in decisions that shape the future of such people? An institution as proud as NASA employs a large number of Indian space scientists. Their work serves America, does it not? India does not wish Americans to go without jobs. But to take jobs from Indians and hand them to Americans is folly. Any company hires people who are useful to it and who do the work; it does not hire idlers of any nationality. And in a country that creates close to two million jobs a year, under a system that issues just 85,000 H-1B visas annually, how exactly are Indians — who hold only about 70 percent of that small number — stealing American jobs? Even Trump has no answer to that.
Source: NSF STEM labour force data; USCIS H-1B cap figures
Getting closer to Pakistan — what assurance does India get?
America’s stance on Pakistan troubles me even more. As an Indian, I see Pakistan as a threat to our security. When America appears to be singing Pakistan’s tune, I do not like it. Does America not know about the terrorist outfits based there? Bin Laden, hunted for years, was finally found in Pakistan. American forces killed him in Abbottabad on 2 May 2011. Why should a country with that experience fail to understand our concerns?
Source: CIA account of the Abbottabad operation
“Asim Munir a ‘great leader’. Modi merely a ‘good friend’.
America may have its own needs with Pakistan. I do not deny that. But if those needs mean setting aside India’s security concerns, we must question it. A country so unyielding about its own security should treat the security of a nation it calls a friend with the same seriousness.
Modi’s silence — restraint or weakness?
This is where I feel Modi too must be questioned directly. It is fine to speak of a personal friendship with Trump. But he must also tell us what that friendship has achieved for India. I know a prime minister cannot secure a visa for every student or save every job. But how forcefully are our people’s problems being raised? What has been achieved in the talks? On which issues has India said it will not compromise? Is there no duty to explain these things to the people?
I do not want Modi to abuse Trump. I am not saying we should cut ties with America. But when our interests take a hit, he must stand firm, and the people must see him doing so. The concerns of the nation deserve at least as much weight as a personal friendship.
Must we mistake helplessness for good nature? Must we keep imagining that great diplomacy lies behind the silence? The results of that diplomacy must be visible. Otherwise even restraint looks like weakness. My view is that the perception of Modi not being firm enough against American pressure is feeding resentment against him. If that perception is wrong, only the government’s results can change it.
National interest matters more than friendship
America is pressing hard for its interests. India must stand up for its own with the same resolve. Trump calling Modi a friend gives me no comfort. What would reassure me, as an Indian, is Modi being able to tell Trump, when it matters: “This is not acceptable to us.”
One response to “Is America India’s Friend or Foe?”
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