‘Bully’ Trump Scoffs at India as Quad Races to Deathbed

Modi seems to have run out with options, and he has to lead India against the “bully” Trump”, with “anti-China” Quad racing to sudden death.

By MANISH ANAND

NEW DELHI, August 4, 2025 — A jilted person throws tantrums, and when still ignored he goes on rampaging rants. This should explain US President Donald Trump’s sudden understanding of western sanctions on Russia proving a massive failure in over three years now.

Trump in a fresh vomit of his rants threatened to levy “more tariffs on India.” He alleged that Indian firms are profiteering by buying Russian oils and selling refined petro goods in the international market.

His threat came within a week of announcing 25% tariffs on India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi sent out a message that he was unfazed by giving a call to the people to buy locally made goods in a signal to the US.

Diplomatic circles in New Delhi are abuzz with advocacy that India should call the bluff of “bully” Trump. They argue that India at worse may take a two percentage point haircuts in the GDP growth. To support their case, they cite the example of China, which matched Trump’s rhetorics in equal measures.

China holds the US and Europe to their knees with monopoly over the rare earth exports, critical for defence and EV manufacturing. But India has no such tangible arbitrage, but the Indian market by its sheer size is cited as a potent pivot for Modi to stand tall to the “bully” Trump.

Without India, the US grandstanding in Indo-Pacific may come a cropper. India’s former foreign secretary Shyam Sharan, while writing in The Indian Express hinted at the possibility of Quad heading to a sudden death. Besides India, Quad consists of the US, Japan, and Australia. India will host the Quad Leaders’ Summit this year, and the likelihood of Trump coming to New Delhi is fast becoming remote as he vomits the vile of tariffs on social media platforms.

If Quad, known in geopolitics as an anti-China bloc, collapses, Beijing may also drop suspicions over New Delhi’s designs in the South China Sea. With India contributing over 100 billion dollars in trade surplus to China, Beijing will be happier by counting New Delhi among friends against western bullies who gave slogans such as “Decouple China” and “managing China.”

Geopolitics commentator Bruno Maçães wrote on X: “This is like a declaration of war. Biden of course thought the US needed India to contain China. That’s over now.” He was responding to Trump’s latest lamentation against India for buying Russian oil.

At stakes will indeed be gains made in strategic ties with the US in past two decades since the signing of a pact in 2005 for close cooperation. But the US now seen propping up Pakistan is raising to many red flags for India to ignore. Modi now seems to have run out with options, and he has to lead India against the “bully” Trump”.

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About The Author

Manish Anand

Manish Anand is a senior journalist with more than two decades of hardcore reporting on beats such as Prime Minister’s Office, Parliament, BJP, Congress, Planning Commission, NITI Aayog, and scores of Union Ministries.

His past has been with The New Indian Express, The Asian Age/Deccan Chronicle, and The Statesman.

For about 15 years, Manish was also a regular commentator and host for talks on AIR on foreign affairs.

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