Five episodes that soured the Trump-Modi bromance

TOI correspondent from Washington: The friendship between Donald Trump and PM Modi — dubbed a bromance by the media– started to come back unstuck late in Trump’s first time period, and continued to fray regardless of efforts to re-kindle it in the US President’s second time period, in keeping with a number of accounts from White House insiders and present and former officers and diplomats, pieced collectively by TOI. There has been no official affirmation of the experiences from both the Indian or the American aspect.Officials who served in the White House throughout Trump 1.0 traced mutual misgivings to July 22, 2019, when the US President, a novice in points regarding the subcontinent, informed Pakistan’s then PM Imran Khan throughout his go to to the White House that he was prepared to mediate in the Kashmir problem if each international locations agreed, claiming that Modi had requested him to play a task.The comment shocked New Delhi, which mentioned there was no such request from Modi in line with India’s lengthy held stand that it’s a bilateral problem that brooks no third-party mediation.According to White House insiders, Trump’s flub got here regardless of a 45-minute briefing by senior officers well-versed in the area during which they defined the intricacies — for which he apparently had no bandwidth. His mediation supply may even have been based mostly on a misunderstanding of a personal cellphone dialog with Modi during which the Indian PM might have urged he mood Pakistan’s method to the problem. In both case, Trump was nonplussed why anybody would reject his supply for mediation, the sources mentioned.A rousing go to to India for the Namaste Trump rally, simply days earlier than the Covid shutdown, papered over this glitch. The second snafu got here in September 2024 when Modi was visiting the US to attend the UN General Assembly and the Quad summit hosted by President Biden. Indian interlocutors reached out to Trump, who was campaigning for a second time period, to arrange a gathering, whereas additionally reaching out to his rival Kamala Harris. While Trump readily agreed to see the Indian PM and even introduced at a marketing campaign occasion in Michigan that he was assembly Modi, Harris’ marketing campaign balked.The Indian aspect backed out of the Trump assembly because it didn’t wish to meet just one candidate. This didn’t go down effectively with Trump, since he had already introduced he was assembly Modi.Still, the two principals appeared to have overcome the wrinkles when Modi grew to become one among the first overseas leaders to fulfill Trump in the White House after he received a second time period, the US President internet hosting him for a working go to on February 13 this 12 months. But by this time, Trump had labored himself right into a rage over the tariff problem, not simply at India (though he had begun to name it the tariff king), however the world at massive. Although officers from each side put collectively a grand COMPACT (“Catalyzing Opportunities for Military Partnership, Accelerated Commerce & Technology) for the 21st Century”), Trump had little bandwidth for pages and pages of fact sheets and joint statement loaded with Modi’s favored acronyms. He wanted headline-making big ticket announcements. He got little for his MAGA faithful beyond projections and promises on the trade front.Moreover, when Trump spoke of MAGA, Modi responded that it could co-exist with his own idea of MIGA aka Viksit Bharat. And then there was the small matter of Elon Musk calling on Modi at Blair House before the Oval Office meeting. By then Trump had begun to sour on Tesla and Apple’s plans in India.The fourth episode came during the four-day India-Pakistan conflict, which Trump fervently believes he brought to an end. While New Delhi says there was no phone conversation between Trump and Modi during the clash, in the US President’s mind, he got Vance to make the call (after possibly failing to reach Modi). Modi himself has said he missed several calls from Vance before he could be reached.Trump’s latest comments — sketchy and disjointed — suggests he talked the Pakistani leadership (not clear who) and warned them they would not get a trade deal if they did not stop the fighting. India says it only responded to the Pakistani overtures for a truce, which New Delhi agreed to. Repudiating his role in dousing a war that he believes would have gone nuclear has clearly miffed Trump, who has been fairly transparent in his quest for a Nobel Peace Prize.The final straw came when Modi declined Trump’s invitation to stop by at the White House on his way back from G-20 in Canada, on the same day the US President had invited Pakistan’s de facto military ruler Asim Munir. The Indian side feared a photo-op ambush. By this time, bilateral negotiations on trade were drawing to a conclusion with negotiating teams from both sides so close to a deal that top US officials said it was imminent. But peeved over what he possibly saw as multiple slights, Trump torpedoed it, using India’s Russian oil purchase as a ruse.