NEW DELHI, India — Speaking at an event in New York this week, Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar gave a frank assessment of Washington. Friendship with Pakistan, its biggest rival, has deepened. And it has pursued “selfish” trade policies that have disproportionately harmed the Global South.
Analysts say the tone marks a new phase in how New Delhi deals with US President Donald Trump’s administration in Washington, against a backdrop of rising bilateral tensions between the capitals.
For decades, India has retreated from the spectacle and quietly addressed its conflicts with friendly nations behind the scenes. This is particularly the approach between New Delhi and Washington, a relationship that enjoys broad bipartisan support.
But after months of tension, New Delhi has become more openly critical of Washington as it grapples with the instability and uncertainty that President Trump brings to the White House.
The developments in New Delhi come at a critical time for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who faces mounting domestic pressure and criticism from opposition parties for repeatedly bowing to U.S. pressure. On Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke by phone with President Trump, which the Indian prime minister described as “productive,” a cold, formal departure from earlier descriptions of the U.S. president as a “good friend.”
Chieteji Vajpayee, a senior South Asia fellow at the Chatham House think tank, said Jaishankar’s comments “provide a candid assessment” of the current state of India-US relations. “It is clear that the bilateral relationship has lost its luster after India was initially the most optimistic about President Trump’s second term,” he said.
India’s problems
Speaking at an Asia Society event after the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Monday, Jaishankar addressed the friction between India and the US.
“If you step back and look at the (India-US) relationship, you see that many countries in the world have a more difficult relationship with the US,” he said. “That may not be comforting, but it is the reality.”
trade
Trade has become one of the flashpoints. Washington is India’s largest trading partner, with bilateral merchandise trade reaching $149.1 billion in 2025. However, the relationship remains tilted toward India, which has a goods surplus of $58.4 billion.
First, Jaishankar said, “Nations should not become so self-centered that they lock themselves in their own worlds and say, ‘Well, it wasn’t my intention to make your life difficult’ with their own decisions.”
He referred in part to the economic ramifications of the wars in Iran and Ukraine, and called for “sound common sense” to ensure that countries’ basic needs are not ignored.
But then he mentioned trade negotiations between India and the United States, which so far have provided a roadmap toward an agreement but no deal itself. “Aside from the per capita disparity between India and the United States, the nature of production and the nature of society are very different,” he pointed out.
The agricultural sector is one of the most contentious areas between the two countries, with India largely keeping its markets closed for decades to protect farmers. “Hopes that progress could be made quickly have been tested against a much more complex reality,” he said, adding that “there is more or less a better understanding of the trade deal.”
At one point, India was among the countries facing the worst tariffs imposed by President Trump. After the U.S. Supreme Court struck down President Trump’s sweeping tariffs in February, the Trump administration quickly turned to other measures, including a new 10% global tariff. Earlier this month, President Trump signed legislation that allows the United States to impose tariffs of up to 100% on countries such as India that buy Russian crude oil.
Mr. Jaishankar pointed to these changes, saying the negotiations had created a “conflict in the relationship of the past year” and added that once an agreement is reached “it will contribute to improving relations.”
Ajay Bisaria, a former diplomat who served as high commissioner to Canada and Pakistan and ambassador to Poland, told Al Jazeera that specifically regarding relations with the United States, “India decided to take a more public stance because there was a lot of public criticism and a feeling that the United States was bullying India and India was being silent.”
The new 100% tariffs on India are expected to take effect within a month and are “kind of a deal-breaker in the relationship at this point,” Visalia said. “If that becomes a reality, all India’s efforts[to reach the US]will be subject to scrutiny.”
‘terrorism’
However, trade is not the only issue in bilateral relations. A major rift emerged last May, when New Delhi waged a four-day war with bitter neighbor Pakistan after an attack by armed militants in Indian-administered Kashmir killed 26 civilians.
There was an uproar in New Delhi after President Trump announced a ceasefire and threatened economic harm if the two countries did not stop fighting. For India, all issues regarding Kashmir are strictly bilateral with Pakistan and there is no room for so-called third party intervention.
Nevertheless, President Trump has repeatedly claimed that he brokered an important ceasefire that ended war between the nuclear-armed neighbors (most recently at the United Nations General Assembly in New York). India took offense to these claims.
Pakistan’s leaders, on the other hand, warmed to Trump, giving him high praise and nominating him for the Nobel Peace Prize. Relations between Islamabad and Washington have progressed since then, but New Delhi is clearly frustrated.
For India, Jaishankar said, “Of particular importance is the issue of terrorism.”
Jaishankar said of Pakistan: “As a nation, there are probably few countries that have been subjected to the kind of terror that we have been subjected to from our neighbors as part of a deliberate and conscious policy for decades.”
“If something that is very important to us doesn’t have enough understanding, appreciation and empathy for it, I think that also creates a problem,” he said, adding that India’s key concerns were “not well understood” by its partner the United States.
The change in tone in which New Delhi addresses Washington is “a lesson learned from experience,” said Visalia, a former diplomat. “After the ceasefire issue, the atmosphere changed and everything got worse.”
“The Trump administration’s obsession with Pakistan without considering India’s sensitivities has led to a sense that we need to start articulating Pakistan clearly,” said Harsh Pant, deputy director of the Observer Research Foundation, a New Delhi-based think tank.
Referring to Jaishankar’s comments, Pant told Al Jazeera: “At the top level, you don’t see reciprocity, the calculus changes and decisions are taken that expose differences.”
domestic pressure
Indians have been the biggest beneficiaries of the US H1B program, which allows employment of foreign workers with specialized training. But it has come under fire from President Trump, who has raised barriers and fees for applicants under his watch as the system faces growing criticism from supporters of his MAGA movement.
Referring to President Trump’s anti-immigration politics, Jaishankar said, “For many years, migration has been seen as an economic benefit. Today, the economics of migration and the politics of migration are, at least in part, at odds.”
“It’s certainly a problem in terms of public perception,” the minister said.
Domestic pressures finally seem to be catching up with New Delhi. “Prime Minister Modi is feeling pressure from home, especially with anti-incumbent support, as he approaches important state elections next year,” Visalia said. “The government’s stance is that we must not accept bullying from the United States.”
Pant said issues such as immigration affect the general public in India, the world’s most populous country. Over the years, such ties have made the United States “an attractive partner to large numbers of Indians.” But today, he said, “the same issues are negatively impacting the relationship.”
“The Indian public’s mood toward the United States is also visibly changing, and I think the government is now publicly expressing that negative sentiment,” Pant said.
“Waiting for Trump”
When Trump returned to the White House for his second presidential bid, many in the strategic community in New Delhi were optimistic about the bilateral relationship. This is because the US president had built a warm personal relationship with Prime Minister Modi during his first term.
But things unraveled in the months that followed.
Still, Chatham House’s Vajpayee said that despite the widening rift between the United States and India, “neither side has given up on repairing relations.”
He pointed to Jaishankar’s statement that India is not the only country that has difficult relations with the United States. “Rather, the deterioration in India-US relations reflects the Trump administration’s transactional and often unpredictable or erratic foreign policy,” he told Al Jazeera.
“This provides a potential outlet for a final reset of relations. The conclusion of bilateral trade agreements is a key monitoring point for this,” Vajpayee added.
Regarding New Delhi, Pant said, “We just have to wait for Trump to step down.” However, India is not alone in that queue, he added with a laugh.
“Everyone is waiting for him to come out. President Trump has very little respect for conventions and codes of conduct between nations. How do we deal with that guy?” Pant said.
