Why India Dropped the U.S For China

Trump Just Handed Beijing a Win You Won’t Believe!

While Western media has been completely preoccupied watching Putin, Trump and European leaders decide the future of Ukraine, a massive story has been unfolding on the other side of the world as India is now officially moving away from the United States and forging a closer relationship with both Russia and China.

India is the world’s fastest-growing economy, it’s a country you would like to have as an ally, but instead of fostering this relationship Donald Trump has thrown India straight under the bus hitting the country with some of the highest tariffs of any nation in the world. Donald Trump is used to bullying countries around, just a couple weeks ago he strong armed the entire European Union into a trade deal that unquestionably gave all the power and leverage to the United States. But Trump’s decision to sever America’s relationship with India is one he will regret very soon. Trump’s tense phone call with Modi helped unravel decades of US policy. But how big an error will this be for the US? Just listen to this prediction from Ashley Tellis, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace:

“Trump’s India strategy is really incomprehensible. This may turn out to be another one of those very costly whims of the president that the country will ultimately end up paying for.”

As he’s done so many times in his second term, Donald Trump is overplaying his hand and in the process, the United States has thrown away one of its most critical allies, pushing India straight back into the arms of its BRICS partners China and Russia. Honestly, the deterioration of US India relations is one of the most fascinating storylines to emerge so far in 2025. India’s Prime Minister Modi was actually one of the first foreign leaders to visit the White House shortly after Trump took office for the second time. Many geopolitical experts actually predicted Trump would move closer to India and use the country as leverage against both Russia and India. Don’t forget Trump wanted Apple to shift iPhone production from China to India and was all about embracing India as America’s best friend just a few months ago. But as Trump proved with the recent shake down deal of the European Union, there are no true allies under the Trump administration and India is no exception.

Modi’s Early White House Visit and Long-Standing Friendship With Trump Make the Betrayal All the More Blindsiding.

But here is where things get interesting. India has much more strategic planning and leverage than the European Union. While Ursula Vonderleyen and the EU have bent to Washington’s will at every turn. Modi has decided to not back down, and immediately pivoted to China and announced his intention to visit China for the first time in 7 years.

India over the years has masterfully maintained a “non-aligned” stance, with its fellow BRICS member China on one side, and the United States on the other. But Donald Trump has no patience for countries pursuing any path that doesn't put America first. In this administration Trump has tried to force historically non-aligned nations like Vietnam and Brazil to pick a side, being fully convinced he can bully any country into submission. But that strategy has already backfired. Both Vietnam and Brazil read the situation clearly and chose closer ties and massive trade agreements with China for their respective futures. Learning nothing from these failures, Trump is trying the same strategy yet again.

When you look at the strategic benefits India brings to the United States, Trump’s decision to strong-arm New Delhi with sky-high tariffs makes absolutely no sense. To further disrespect India, Trump went out of his way to publicly declare that India’s economy was “dead” and that the US “does little business with India” and “should keep it that way.”

Trump Could Not be More Wrong About India’s “Dead” Economy.

To call India's economy as dead is incredibly on brand for Trump. This is the same president who fired his labor secretary when he didn't approve of the falling job numbers in the US. The real reason seems to be Trump just doesn't like honest statistics. The reality is India's economy has been growing rapidly for many decades. In 2023, India’s GDP hit $3.55 trillion, with an impressive 7.6% growth rate, making it the fastest-growing large economy in the world. They have sustained this massive growth for decades. India’s real GDP rose from about $266 billion in 1991 to roughly $3.7 trillion in 2023. A more than 13-fold increase. It's funny because in the West we always hear that India is the NEXT China! Once again, this is Trump simply ignoring facts and creating false narratives.

Not only is he wrong about India’s economy not growing, he's completely wrong in saying the US does “very little business with India”. The United States and India trade hundreds of billions of dollars every year. In some sectors, America is almost completely dependent on India. Take pharmaceuticals for example. India is a global powerhouse in the field, selling more than $10 billion worth of medicine to the U.S. annually. Nearly 40 percent of all generic drugs Americans take come from India.

Now imagine what happens if Trump follows through on his plan to slap a special tariff on medications that could eventually reach 250 percent. U.S. drug prices are already insanely high. This move could send them skyrocketing. Much like the rest of Trump’s tariff plan, this will only come back to hurt US citizens more.

For years, the U.S. government has been desperate to “de-risk” from China in manufacturing. But in the near future and in most industries, that’s nearly impossible. China’s dominance is just too overwhelming. The only country with the population, scale, and potential to even come close was India. But now, Trump’s tariffs have torched that hope. Slapping a 50% duty on Indian goods destroys the last realistic shot at diversifying manufacturing away from China. Major American companies from consumer tech to textile manufacturers have poured billions into India. For example Apple invested heavily in Indian facilities that produce iPhones for export to the U.S. and the World. How can Washington seriously encourage Apple or any other businesses to divest from China when the next best option is suddenly hit with a 50% tariff?

And it’s not only about manufacturing. India produces millions of highly skilled graduates every year, most of whom major in critical STEM fields. One of India’s biggest challenges is holding on to this talent, as so many of their brightest minds move abroad. One of the largest destinations for the talent is the United States where this talent becomes the backbone of the U.S. tech industry. Just look at Silicon Valley, where Indian-born CEOs and innovators lead some of America’s biggest companies like Alphabet, Microsoft, IBM, and Adobe to name a few.

Now, combine these tariffs with a crackdown on foreign students, and you get a perfect recipe for making sure those future AI pioneers, engineers, and scientists never set foot in the United States. Instead, they will stay home and strengthen India’s tech sector and weaken the US over the long term.

In addition to these economic blows, potentially losing India as an ally is disastrous for the other major US policy of Chinese containment. The US has made it a major policy goal to encircle China through military bases, and strategic partnerships with all of China's bordering countries. India has long had tense relations with China, from ongoing border disputes to a deep-rooted historic rivalry. That means the U.S. didn’t need to do much to keep India as either a strategic thorn in China’s side, or even a potential partner in any conflict between Washington and Beijing. But now, with these new tariffs and Modi’s high-profile trip to Beijing, the U.S. is effectively taking one of its most valuable chess pieces off its board. But more importantly, Trump has now caused India to fully move closer to China, which is a major win for BRICS, another win for Russia, and another clear example of the multipolar world we now live in.

This Map Shows the U.S policy of Chinese “Containment”. Losing India Would be a Major Blow to This Policy’s Stated Objectives.

In effect, Trump’s move manages to fail on all three fronts. It undermines efforts to divest manufacturing from China, it damages the domestic tech sector, and it fails US strategic goals. As we’ve said on this channel before, this is the kind of move you’d make if you were actively trying to destroy American influence.

So why pursue such a disastrous policy? The trigger was India’s decision to keep importing Russian oil despite U.S. sanctions tied to the war in Ukraine. But here’s the thing: These tariffs are aimed squarely at India, even though plenty of other countries are doing the same thing. Many countries still buy directly from Russia, and in the case of the European Union, they’re even buying Russian oil through India as an intermediary. If the hypocrisy wasn’t already glaring, The United States is guilty of the very thing it accuses other countries of. Washington still imports Russian uranium to power its own nuclear industry, and not even in small amounts. In 2023, a full year after the war began, the U.S. bought 27% of its enriched uranium from Russia, more than from any other supplier. And even today, a substantial share of America’s nuclear fuel still comes straight from Moscow.

So when the U.S. demands that India play by rules it doesn’t even follow itself, it’s no wonder New Delhi is drifting closer to BRICS. Washington has made it clear it doesn’t value loyalty, it values control. And to show you exactly what I mean, let me give a real life case study from Africa. After a state visit to Beijing, Kenya faced intense backlash from the U.S. and even the threat of losing its ally status and access to key security agreements, all because it praised China’s role in shaping a “new world order.”

Even a deal between two sovereign nations is apparently too much for Washington to tolerate. And with Trump, the pattern is clear. He penalizes other countries not out of principle, but because he’s a bully. And nobody wants to deal with a bully. This is precisely why Prime Minister Modi is taking a stand. In addition to his very public pivot toward Beijing, Modi has also doubled down on his commitment to another BRICS partner, Russia. In direct response to the tariffs, Modi dispatched his national security adviser to Moscow and followed up with a strong message on X. In it, he declared: “I had a very good and detailed conversation with my friend President Putin” and “Reaffirmed our commitment to further deepen the India–Russia special and privileged partnership.” He even added that he looks forward to hosting Putin later this year.

Modi Publicly Re-affirms Friendship With Putin in Bold Statement Directed at Trump.

Every word here is intentional, especially the choice to describe Putin as a close friend. In my opinion this was 100% an intentional remark aimed squarely at the Trump administration. Modi used this term “friend” to remind the US that India has options. The United States wanted India to abandon its trade ties with Russia. Instead, it got India to double down.

But Modi didn’t stop there. Speaking at a public event later that week, he warned:

“I may have to pay a very heavy price personally for refusing to cave to Trump but I am prepared for it.” From world leaders across the globe to America’s own foreign policy establishment, everyone is scratching their heads at this strategy. Everyone except those inside Trump’s cabinet. The prospect of returning to the once warm Trump–Modi bromance is fading fast. India is now digging its heels in, cementing its relationships with both Russia and China.

This is single handedly accelerating the shift toward a multipolar world. Every time Washington uses economic coercion against a partner, it validates the BRICS narrative that the world needs alternatives to U.S.-led systems. India, already a founding BRICS member, now has every incentive to deepen ties within that bloc, not just with Russia and China, but with the growing list of countries eager to challenge U.S. dominance. Instead of isolating Russia, he’s strengthened the Russia–India partnership. Instead of containing China, he’s driven India closer to Beijing. And instead of shoring up America’s role as the default partner for rising powers, he’s shown the world that U.S. alliances can be discarded on a whim. While Trump is busy playing short-term power games, India is positioning itself as a central pillar of an emerging multipolar order. And in that order, Washington is no longer the only option on the table.

To watch the full story on Youtube, as well as other great videos about the multipolar world, click the link below.