OPINION: Trump’s Bully Statecraft Is a Threat to Democracies — And India Should Say We've Had Enough
The American Dream once stood for openness, accountability, and democratic leadership. Today, under Donald Trump’s increasingly combative posture, it is mutating into a coercive foreign policy strategy that demands absolute compliance. His new doctrine is painfully clear: toe the Trump line -- or pay a heavy price.
Is this diplomacy or foreign policy? This is bully-statecraft.
Trump’s pattern is unmistakable. He wields America’s economic and political leverage to punish those who show even an inch of independence. India, the world’s largest democracy, is being treated like an errant state rather than the trusted partner it has long been.
This is strictly about control.
From his personal insults to London’s mayor, to sanctioning Brazil’s Supreme Court Justice, and dismissing the sovereignty of India, Trump has built a global brand of humiliation politics. And make no mistake -- when he attacks India’s tariffs, its military ties, or its oil strategy, he is undermining 1.4 billion Indians. He is questioning their right to economic self-determination and global engagement on their own terms.
India has not said enough so far-- but it should say so. Because while we must respect the office that Trump now occupies, it is no secret that he is a blot on the chair. India should remember that cult personalities are temporary. The BRICS factor has shaken Trump administration's standing. They know full well the potential it has, and are therefore coercing India and the rest to toe the line. India should not, regardless of the price that comes along with it. We should diversify and engage with every other country of the planet and teach Trump a lesson of his own doing.
For decades, India has crafted its diplomacy with patience and maturity. It has resisted reactionary pressures, building layered partnerships that reflect its civilisational values and strategic needs. But Trump’s tactics have crossed a line.
His idea of leadership -- sanction first, negotiate later -- is a violation of the very principles America once claimed to champion. His 25% tariff on Indian exports, justified by citing high tariffs and non-alignment with Washington’s agenda, is a case study in unilateral bullying. His simultaneous embrace of Pakistan’s military, despite its long record of sheltering and sponsoring terrorists and destabilising the region, is a betrayal of democratic solidarity.
Even as India carried out strikes under Operation Sindoor, defending itself from Pakistani-based terror, Trump falsely claimed credit for mediating a ceasefire -- turning a sovereign military operation into a talking point for his campaign narrative.
And worse still, Indian students in the US had been detained, humiliated, even handcuffed at airports. These were calculated signals designed to create political discomfort in India, to coerce alignment, and to insult the pride of an entire nation.
But Trump’s mistake is assuming that India will yield. A government that has India's self respect and national interest in view will not yield, it will go a step further to slap Trump's ego with strategic policy, and that's not out of New Delhi's playbook.
India should not become a pawn in anyone’s playbook. It is a civilisation, a democracy, and a global power that should neither bend under pressure nor barter its autonomy. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s diplomatic pushback -- from firm calls with Iranian leaders, to building counter-alliances with France, Mexico, and the Middle East -- signals a broader shift: India will be engaging the United States, but it will not be bullied by it.
In reality, it is not India that looks isolated. It is Trump’s America that is on the verge of being isolated globally.
Europe has taken note. Canada has pushed back. The UK and France are now asserting independent positions on Palestine. Brazil has condemned US interference in its judiciary. And India, too, should be stepping forward -- as a sovereign stabilizer.
This is the Trump Doctrine in action: destabilise democracies, reward strongmen, punish dissent, and twist international law to fit a personal narrative. But India’s democracy is built of sterner stuff. It cannot be co-opted by a man who calls elected mayors “stone cold losers” and uses tariffs as political tools.
This is transactional tantrum-ism that India should push back against.
India’s response must remain rooted in its strength, be calm, measured but unyielding in securing its national interest. It must continue asserting its strategic clarity -- that national interest is not up for negotiation, and sovereignty is not for sale because while Trump may believe in a world of deals, Indians believes in a world of dignity. And no tariff can ever price that out.
Also Read:
Modi’s Red Line Is India’s Red Line
The Death of the American Dream
(Saket Suman is the author of The Psychology of a Patriot. Among other roles, he was a Special Correspondent at The Times of India and the head of Arts/Books/Culture verticals of what was India's largest independent newswire.)
(Views Expressed Are Author's Own and Do Not Reflect The Views of This News Outlet)