FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi shake hands as they attend a joint press conference at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., February 13, 2025. / REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo

The past few weeks, the US-India relationship has hit rock bottom, a spot not seen since India’s second nuclear tests in the 1990s. Punishing tariffs and US bonhomie with India’s neighbor along its western frontiers and its arch-rival, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, have put the two most significant democracies at odds with each other. Amid this diplomatic row and an aura of mistrust, a narrative is emerging that suggests Americans and Indians do not understand each other.

Since India’s independence from British colonialism in 1947, the US-India relationship has been marked by mutual mistrust, trade disputes, and other issues. Despite the bipartisan efforts and leadership since the Clinton era, there is still much to be achieved. As Rich Verma, the former US Ambassador to India, writes in his 2020 doctoral thesis, “the United States does not count India as one of its closest friends and partners, and few would assert that we have become allies, natural or otherwise.” This historical context provides a comprehensive understanding of the current state of the relationship.

The US President Donald Trump has consistently pushed for reducing trade barriers, and tariffs have figured in his first term as well as in his 2024 presidential campaign. India’s high tariffs on Harley-Davidson motorcycles, for example, were a sore topic even in the first Trump administration. In March 2019, in Mr. Trump's first term, the US revoked India’s General System of Preference (GSP) status following a review process launched in April 2018. The GSP allows certain products to enter the US duty-free, provided the beneficiary "developing country" meets the eligibility criteria established by the US Congress.

The talks of de-dollarization among BRICS countries, where India figures prominently, have created severe heartburn and anxiety among MAGA conservatives. Their talk shows and podcasts are full of references to BRICS.

Also Read: India wants US ties based on mutual respect: Govt

On the issue of violating US “sanctions,” President Joe Biden dispatched his Deputy National Security Advisor of Indian ancestry, Daleep Singh, to India. His threatening outburst about “consequences” to India made headlines. While Mr. Biden’s Under Secretary of State, Victoria Nuland, imposed a stealth visa ban on Indians for refusing to comply with US sanctions on Russia. During that time, Indians had to wait up to 600 working days to book a visa appointment. “Not used to having countries outside the Atlanticist group turn down her commands,” wrote senior journalist Prof. MD Nalapat, “Nuland inwardly fumed when South Block refused to scrap the S-400 deal and join the crusade against Russia that she has long been a champion of.”

In addition, a myriad of virtue signaling issues about religious freedom, freedom of speech, etc., have remained a constant irritant in the US-India relationship. In a nutshell, the on-again, off-again relationship between the two most prominent democracies isn’t anything new. 

At the heart of much trepidation, then, is the lack of Indian scholarship in the US. To the uninitiated, this scarcity may sound absurd given the number of Indians or Americans working at the ubiquitous South Asia centres of US universities, think tanks, and media outlets. However, these scholars often get exposed as their “expertise” is, at best, disconnected and disjointed from the complex Indian reality.

While tens of thousands of Indian students study in US universities, very few American students go to India. Many of those who went to India in the past did so for evangelical purposes. “The largest percentage of active academics, according to statistics maintained by the Association for Asian Studies in 1991,” according to Nicholas Dirks, the Chancellor (2013-2017) of the University of California, Berkley, and a South Asia scholar, “was in religion and philosophy. In earlier years, these fields were dominated by missionary connections and backgrounds.”

Those Indian-origin scholars and academicians who joined those exclusive South Asia departments and think tanks in the latter part of the last century onward, after the liberalized immigration laws of the late 1960s made it possible for many Indians to come to the US for education and employment, knew that pursuing a pro-India stance would get them nowhere. Understanding the left-wing tilt at elite US universities and media, they were too happy to maintain the status quo and parrot left-wing talking points required to succeed in their respective fields.

Most Indians rely on the legacy US media for their news and views on the US. This reliance taints their understanding, in the very least, of the political landscape in the US. However, an overwhelming majority of Americans do not trust the US media. Americans’ trust in the media has been trending low for years. It stands at the lowest point in five decades. Confidence in newspapers and television now ranks at the bottom of US public institutions due to their faulty and slanted presentation of the Russia collusion hoax, January 6 Capitol riots, COVID, Hunter Biden’s laptop, the coverage of President Joe Biden’s mental acuity, and VP Kamala Harris’s failed presidential bid.

Also Read: Haley: “To face China, the United States must have a friend in India”

As the two countries work to rebuild trust and gain a deeper understanding of each other, there is no need to panic. Despite the recent diplomatic tensions, US-India cooperation in many fields has continued undeterred. India’s Ambassador Vinay Kwatra's meeting with DNI Tulsi Gabbard in DC to discuss issues of “mutual interests,” and the opening of eight new Consular Application Centers in the US are promising signs of potential cooperation. This emphasis on the potential for cooperation can instill a sense of hope and optimism in the relationship.

Most Indians are deeply religious and family-oriented and are thrilled with Mr. Trump’s handling of the woke leftists and their regressive agenda. “I liked Trump for pulping the heft of the Left in the US,” said Ashish Sinha, a former senior journalist, in a text message. “But I don’t like him for bothering my country on too many fronts,” Sinha continued. That front, most prominently for most Indians, is India’s western frontiers. As AEI’s Sadanand Dume rightly put it in his WSJ op-ed, “As long as the U.S. doesn’t actively arm Pakistan, India can probably live with Mr. Trump’s empty praise for Islamabad.” 

The US-India relationship is too crucial for the US, both for the values we hold dearly as a democratic nation and for our strategic purposes in the Indo-Pacific, to be sacrificed for rhetoric and misunderstanding.

The author is an award-winning journalist and linguist. 

(The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of New India Abroad)