Washington- Gordon Chang, Senior Fellow at the Gatestone Institute, has praised the easing of tensions between India and the US following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s warm response to US President Donald Trump’s recent remarks on their “special relationship.”
Speaking to Fox News on Monday, Chang noted the shift in Washington’s tone. “President Trump walked that back a little bit, and he should, because we haven’t lost India to China. Remember, PM Modi did attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting in Tianjin, but he deliberately skipped the military parade. That was a message to China and the world that he did not want to be part of this anti-Western group,” Chang said.
He further stressed that India has a valid argument when it calls US tariffs “unfair,” pointing out that New Delhi was targeted with punitive measures while other buyers of Russian crude were spared.
At a White House press briefing on September 5, Trump had described Modi as a “great Prime Minister” and said, “I’ll always be friends with Prime Minister Modi.” Soon after, Modi reciprocated, saying he “appreciates and fully reciprocates” Trump’s sentiments.
Meanwhile, US media has been tracking the India story closely. The New York Times reported that Mumbai’s two key stock indexes have risen 10% in the past six months, despite Washington’s 50% tariffs. In a piece titled “India’s Investors, Defying Tariffs, Keep Pouring Money Into Stocks,” the paper said the surge reflects rising confidence among India’s middle class and the strengthening of its domestic financial sector. It also noted that foreign ownership in Indian equities has dropped from 24% to nearly 16%.
The Los Angeles Times, in its report “India’s Solar Industry, Aiming to Compete with China, Finds Strength as US Tariffs Hit Home,” highlighted that India’s clean energy sector is positioned to withstand US trade pressures. With ambitious renewable energy targets and strong domestic demand, the industry is likely to absorb any disruptions in exports to the US.
The report underlined India’s aggressive solar push, noting that the country’s installed solar capacity has multiplied 30 times in the past decade, and solar power now costs half as much as building new coal-fired plants.
With inputs from IANS