India-US relations: News and Discussions IV

[chetak]

Now we know where Rahul Gandhi's continuous "Ambani-Adani" campaign idea came from

[drnayar]

We were already saying that in brf before it was official!

The difference is that if a US court correctly rules that only the US Congress can impose tariffs, these tariffs on India will not go away, because as “sanctions”, they are a national security issue and not an economic/trade issue.

Good point ! I guess then there is not much point in quad etc.. maybe just a namesake

[chetak]

X posted from the Modi 3.0 thread


VI@WA


"You ever wonder why the most powerful organisations on Earth announce their plans? Why they'll say things like 'you'll own nothing and be happy' or talk openly about population control?"

"They've mastered something far more effective than force—consent through apathy."

"See, if you keep something secret and people discover it, they revolt. But if you declare it openly and people shrug, you've turned domination into agreement by default."

"And then, when it's implemented, they can point back and say: We told you. It was public. You didn't stop us."

"They don't need jackboots. They don't need gulags. They just need your compliance. And compliance is built one shrug at a time."

"Your silence is the signature on the contract you never read."


WATCH VIDEO

[uddu]

https://x.com/somnath1978/status/1958334499391222002
@somnath1978
Amusingly, the little pushback one sees in the US to DJT targeting India is all Republican in origin. The Democrat cohort, incl "Indian Americans" like Kamala Harris have been studiously quiet. As have all the Indian-American CEOs...

https://x.com/bill_drexel/status/1958215633042276825
Bill Drexel
@bill_drexel
"Scuttling 25 years of momentum with the only country that can serve as a counterweight to Chinese dominance in Asia would be a strategic disaster."

Delighted to publish with Amb.
@NikkiHaley
in
@Newsweek
on the urgency of rebuilding ties with India

[chetak]

[Amber G.]

"Perplexed At Logic": S Jaishankar On US Tariff Over Purchase Of Russian Oil

[ShauryaT]

White House Trade Adviser Peter Navarro Speaks to Reporters -- Watch from -31 mark on India comments

[Rudradev]

White House Trade Adviser Peter Navarro Speaks to Reporters -- Watch from -31 mark on India comments

Cannot find it in the video.
Btw Navarro is the guy Elon Musk called "dumb as a box of rocks"

[gakakkad]

^ even dumber . The ancient people made calculating devices and sundials etc from rocks . You can't even do that from peter Navarro

[uddu]

Pete Navarro REBUKES India over profiting over illegal RUSSIAN OIL

This fool is not understanding that prior to the war, India was not buying Russian oil because Europe was not buying from Middle East but from Russia and India was sourcing oil from Middle East. Once the war started, oil from Middle East got diverted to Europe and India was left with no oil and has to buy it from Russia.
Someone need to give a knock on his head to light up his tubelight head.
Now the reason for tariff on India is crystal clear as Trump is surrounded by such dimwits who don't have a clue about anything. As long as these Jokers are advising him, have no hope of trade issue being resolved.

[Rudradev]

The first graph on this page shows what war profiteering actually looks like (note, Feb 2022 is the start of the Ukraine war, in which the US is nominally neither a participant nor the treaty ally of any participant)

https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/USA/arms_exports/

[uddu]

PM Modi-Putin summit, Trump tariffs, terrorism, Ukraine: Jaishankar’s big message from Russia

S.Jaishankar: We are not the biggest purchaser of Russian oil. That's China. We are not the biggest purchaser of Russian LNG, i'm not sure, but I think that's the European Union. We are not the country which has the biggest trade surge with Russia after 2022. I think there are some countries to the south(USA?).
Jaishankar Slams Trump Tariffs in Moscow | Vantage with Palki Sharma | N18G

India's foreign minister S Jaishankar slammed Donald Trump's tariffs, saying he was "perplexed at the logic" behind the American move. Jaishankar, who is on a three-day trip to Moscow, also discussed trade, energy and military ties with his Russian counterpart. Palki Sharma brings you the top four highlights from the trip.

[Suraj]

The US might be running a current account deficit but it also runs a massive capital account surplus due to its privilege with a reserve currency.

The trade is conducted in dollars. Exports accumulate dollars in their forex reserves. They hold a lot of it in US treasuries. As the USTreasury data shows, almost $4 trillion is in foreign hands as of June 2025.

But technically that money is circulating in the US economic system. It's been handed back to the US in return for figurative pieces of paper that are the bonds in question, which tells China, Japan or India that they'll be paid interest on schedule and will get back the principal on a given date.

Now Bessert's assertions are interesting, because he's claiming that the US will treat these as US sovereign wealth and may confiscate part or whole of that principal unless bond holders fulfill certain demands.

This is the classic nuclear option in this matter and it would sound a lot more alarming if not for the fact that statements of this magnitude are now made as a matter of routine so it's hard to tell how serious any of it is.

[skumar]

Any discussion with the US on access to our agriculture sector should be ended with an assertion that the impact on India of what US is asking for would be the equivalent to the impact on US if India seeks to open up the US labour market without any constraints.

The agricultural sector employs ~1% of US workforce (with probably another 1% coming from illegal aliens shielded and encouraged by some of the very people who talk about illegal migration) and ~40% of Indian workforce. The US agricultural sector gets massive subsidies of ~$28B every year almost the same as what India provides to its farm sector. The average US farmer gets 60 times the subsidy that an Indian farmer gets.

[drnayar]

The US might be running a current account deficit but it also runs a massive capital account surplus due to its privilege with a reserve currency.

The trade is conducted in dollars. Exports accumulate dollars in their forex reserves. They hold a lot of it in US treasuries. As the USTreasury data shows, almost $4 trillion is in foreign hands as of June 2025.

But technically that money is circulating in the US economic system. It's been handed back to the US in return for figurative pieces of paper that are the bonds in question, which tells China, Japan or India that they'll be paid interest on schedule and will get back the principal on a given date.

Now Bessert's assertions are interesting, because he's claiming that the US will treat these as US sovereign wealth and may confiscate part or whole of that principal unless bond holders fulfill certain demands.

This is the classic nuclear option in this matter and it would sound a lot more alarming if not for the fact that statements of this magnitude are now made as a matter of routine so it's hard to tell how serious any of it is.

That's psychology..the more the difficult or outrageous thing is spoken the less likely you will react to it.

[drnayar]

What prevents countries from off loading their dollar reserves or converting to gold.

[Vayutuvan]

What prevents countries from off loading their dollar reserves or converting to gold.

What can you do with gold? You can't eat it, you can't drive it, you can't get hours of entertainment out of it (or maybe some people do - just by looking at their gold for hours and feeling good), you can't read it, you can't use it to produce GWs of electricity, ...

[Rudradev]

Now Bessert's assertions are interesting, because he's claiming that the US will treat these as US sovereign wealth and may confiscate part or whole of that principal unless bond holders fulfill certain demands.

Is that what Bessent said?

I thought he was talking about the money that Trump has supposedly forced other countries to commit to investing in the US, de novo, in the post-tariff trade deals they have supposedly accepted ($500B from Japan, $600B from EU etc).

Bessent said Trump will "direct how those investments will be made" i.e. use them as a sovereign wealth fund.

There are actually US-Pasand Indian Americans advocating that all would be well and Trump would be happy with India if only Adani-Ambani would also "invest" $500B in the US (on Bessent's terms, I expect).

[Amber G.]

"Silence Only Emboldens The Bully": Chinese Envoy To India On Trump Tariffs

[Amber G.]

Peter Navarro agian going bonkers..
,vidio clip .."India doesn’t appear wants to recognise its role in bloodshed (in Ukraine).”
.targets India for doing “refinery profiteering”.
.India is “laundromat" for the Kremlin, he says.

It seems now It is becoming clear to many people even here .. Trump lost it all to see India’s rise ... He’s failed to bully India - neither diplomacy nor deepstate tricks worked,.. nor Asim Munir's provocation.. Frustrated by failures after failuess in Ukraine & Gaza, he now rages at India’s success..India stands tall against the bully.

[williams]

What prevents countries from off loading their dollar reserves or converting to gold.

What can you do with gold? You can't eat it, you can't drive it, you can't get hours of entertainment out of it (or maybe some people do - just by looking at their gold for hours and feeling good), you can't read it, you can't use it to produce GWs of electricity, ...

Gold or Dollar is just a medium of exchange. They derive their value from what they represent - real product or service that somebody is ready to provide in exchange. Countries keep dollar reserve because it is the most used medium of exchange. If there is another medium of exchange that becomes prominent across the world then dollar will lose its demand and hence its value.

[Vayutuvan]

@williams ji, who do you think has the most gold in the world? Take a guess.

[Vayutuvan]

https://www.advratings.com/finance/gold ... by-country

(in metric tons) January 2025

1 United States 8,133.5
2 Germany 3,351.5
3 Italy 2,451.8
4 France 2,437.0
5 Russian Federation 2,335.9
6 China 2,279.6
7 Switzerland 1,040.0
8 India 876.2
9 Japan 846.0
10 Turkey 615.0
11 Netherlands 612.5
12 ECB 506.5
13 Poland 448.2
14 Taiwan 423.9
15 Portugal 382.7
16 Uzbekistan 382.6
17 Saudi Arabia 323.1
18 United Kingdom 310.3
19 Lebanon 286.8
20 Kazakhstan 284.1
...

[Cyrano]

If all or even several countries off load the dollar at once then the dollar would lose value very quickly. Like in any market sell off, the first ones to offload will benefit at the expense of the rest.
It's a ponzi scheme on the way up as well as on the way down!

[ShauryaT]

@williams ji, who do you think has the most gold in the world? Take a guess.

India of course! About 25K tons in private hands!!

[Vayutuvan]

@williams ji, who do you think has the most gold in the world? Take a guess.

India of course! About 25K tons in private hands!!

1. How does the GOI government get hold of that gold?

2. What is the quality of that gold? Most old gold has been made and remade into ornaments over a period of a couple of, if not more, centuries. People get a nasty surprise when they go to jewelers to exchange for new jewelry.

[Vayutuvan]

There is no alternative to agri commodities, minerals, and manufactured goods. That is the hard way but robust and long lasting. I had a leisurely walk through Best Buy the other day. They have US$64 smart bulb from GE (os it Philips). A number of home security systems, gigabit networked Wifi points, cheaper smart bulbs that can be programmed to change colors as per your mood and junk of that sort. Nobody to buy anything. There were more salespeople than customers. Same situation with Maynards. On the other hand, Costco is teeming with people so is Walmart and Aldi.

Come Thanksgiving, people will buy all the junk that is on display in Best Buys of the world. Old junk gets into landfills or into junk yards.

Recycling is time consuming and expensive. Due to the mobile phones and apps, we have to do everything ourselves. In the past, I used to book my airline tickets and even car and hotel bookings through travel agents. All those travel agencies have disappeared and I have to do it myself spending a couple of hours at least so that SHQ is satisfied with the price, timing, and comfort.

The more time you spend, the better the deal you can getor so you think. I bought an apple pen along with my iPad thinking that I would take notes during meetings etc. I hardly used it. It was shelved for a couple of years. Now I am trying to pair it with my iPad, it is not getting paired. It is not even charging since the charge went down to 3% or something (or so the iPad thinks).

Several other gadgets are lying around as well. Unused and unusable at this point. There is far too much streaming content on Netflix, Amz Prime, Disney, ZeeTV, Sony, Paramount, and SunNXT. Mostly junk. Then people have reels, TikTok, X, Whatsapp (oh how hate that app), etc.

[gakakkad]

i wonder if ukrainians honeytrapped some one in trump admin. or porkis. especially that stonehead nevero

[Amber G.]

With 10% commission on Ukraine weapon sales, Trump is real profiteer of Russia's war — not India

[A_Gupta]

NDTV tells us:

"Senior US Congressman Gregory Meeks has also slammed Trump for his punitive tariffs against India and said "tariff tantrum" risks over two decades of careful work to build a strong partnership between Washington and New Delhi.

"We have deep strategic, economic, and people-to-people ties. Concerns should be addressed in a mutually respectful way consistent with our democratic values," The Democrat leader said, according to the House committee responsible for foreign policy legislation. "

---

[A_Gupta]

i wonder if ukrainians honeytrapped some one in trump admin. or porkis. especially that stonehead nevero

Trump is a court-confirmed sex offender; so why would one think that "honey-traps" will work?

[Vayutuvan]

The Democrat leader said, according to the House committee responsible for foreign policy legislation. "
---

Indian origin DNC leaders are a great disappointment. Riddle me this someone who is a DNC booster

Why do they get so much love from we Indian-Americans?!!!

[chanakyaa]

i wonder if ukrainians honeytrapped some one in trump admin. or porkis. especially that stonehead nevero

Trump is a court-confirmed sex offender; so why would one think that "honey-traps" will work?

wait, Navarro and Munir together, honeytrapped?? hey ram. On a serious note, no one take Navarro seriously. Some simple google searches on criticism of Navarro's radical ideas give you enough insights. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't remember Indian trade delegation directly engaging with Navarro.

[SSridhar]

There are actually US-Pasand Indian Americans advocating that all would be well and Trump would be happy with India if only Adani-Ambani would also "invest" $500B in the US (on Bessent's terms, I expect).

Investment would be OK for other countries, but Trump & his administration have a deeper problem with India that wouldn't be satisfied with mere investments.

Expanding envelope of grievances based on patently false data, secure in the idea that India's calling the bluff of Trump & Co wouldn't get the same traction as what Trump/Navarro/Bessant/Greer get, shows that there are possibly other things at play.

[A_Gupta]

^^^ The stuff of nightmares (Munir & Navarro).

Indian-Americans (a) primary loyalty is to the US (b) as naturalized citizens have sworn an oath to uphold the US Constitution, which native-born Americans have not, unless they've been in government service and (c) know that Democratic administrations won't deport them on a whim.
Good or bad for Bharat is secondary.

[chanakyaa]

...
Now Bessert's assertions are interesting, because he's claiming that the US will treat these as US sovereign wealth and may confiscate part or whole of that principal unless bond holders fulfill certain demands.

This is the classic nuclear option in this matter and it would sound a lot more alarming if not for the fact that statements of this magnitude are now made as a matter of routine so it's hard to tell how serious any of it is.

That's psychology..the more the difficult or outrageous thing is spoken the less likely you will react to it.

I don't think it is about saying something completely outrageous or far fetched. There are many in the administration who believe that primary reason for massive amounts of US debt is excessive debt funded consumerism and the foreign countries have found it easy to park their savings in US. In practice, their savings have been debased by excessive money-printing but it is a different topic. By threatening to confiscate the foreign reserves, they are trying to slow/stop/prevent this endless cycle. But the threatening of the reserves and strong dollar policy contradict each other. Something's gotta give.

[uddu]

https://x.com/MalikAshutosh/status/1958401354981859640
@MalikAshutosh
What stands out, among the various good points that Harsh Goenka makes in his tweet, is Goenka's nonsense on the "support" during 1971 war! The fellow is absolutely clueless! That a chap who goes about crowing on SM all the time is so unread is such a fascinating discovery! 1/2

[uddu]

https://x.com/smitadeshmukh/status/1958515155064537325
@smitadeshmukh
All his posturing makes so much sense now

[drnayar]

That's psychology..the more the difficult or outrageous thing is spoken the less likely you will react to it.

I don't think it is about saying something completely outrageous or far fetched. There are many in the administration who believe that primary reason for massive amounts of US debt is excessive debt funded consumerism and the foreign countries have found it easy to park their savings in US. In practice, their savings have been debased by excessive money-printing but it is a different topic. By threatening to confiscate the foreign reserves, they are trying to slow/stop/prevent this endless cycle. But the threatening of the reserves and strong dollar policy contradict each other. Something's gotta give.

Well I think they asked the swiss.to transfer their gold holdings to America for "safe keeping" of course
Of course they refused

[williams]

Slowly but surely both Biden and Trump are inadvertently destroying American consumer spirit. Problem is when that spirit declines the surplus capacities that is built by businesses to cater to that consumerism is going to decline. China is suffering right now due to that but at some point that is going to hurt American economy. Until then these Tariff games will look like a good play for the current Admin.