The New York Times says that U.S. President Donald Trump’s travel to India for the Quad summit, which many people were looking forward to, is not happening. Neither administration has officially announced the cancelation, but it is the latest indicator of a deepening divide between the two leaders and their countries.
The story goes into depth on how the relationship between Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has “unraveled” in the last several months. The story says that a phone call in June where Trump kept saying he was responsible for a ceasefire between India and Pakistan in May was a major cause of dispute. New Delhi has strongly denied this assertion. It seems that the argument got worse when Trump, apparently trying to win a Nobel Peace Prize, suggested that Modi should also nominate him. The article says that Modi “bristled” and said that the ceasefire was the outcome of direct talks between India and Pakistan.
Recent economic steps have made the diplomatic fallout more worse. In August, the U.S. put a 50% tax on Indian imports, which included a 25% tax on its purchases of Russian oil. The New York Times quotes analysts who say that these “colossal penalties” seem more like “punishment” for India’s autonomous foreign policy than a coordinated attempt to put pressure on Russia.
The cancellation is seen as a setback to the Quad, a group comprising the U.S., India, Japan, and Australia that works together to keep China’s might in the Indo-Pacific in check. India is now hosting the summit, and the absence of the American leader might make the bloc’s story of unity weaker and help Beijing. There has been no official indication on whether the summit has been pushed back or if it will go on without the President of the United States.