India-US Relations : So, Prime Minister Narendra Modi hopped online Thursday and announced he’d chatted with his “friend, President Donald Trump.” Classic Modi move—he congratulated Trump on the so-called historic Gaza peace plan. The guy’s always got a tweet for everything. He also said they checked in on the India–US trade talks, which, let’s be honest, have been crawling along forever. Both agreed to “stay in close touch,” which is basically politician-speak for “let’s keep pretending we get along.”

Now, about this Gaza peace thing—everyone’s calling it a big deal, like it’s going to magically fix decades of chaos in the region. India’s playing its usual game, cozying up to both the US and the Middle East, and saying all the right things about peace, dialogue, blah blah. Diplomatic gymnastics at its finest.

India–US Ties Tested as Tariffs Rise and Alliances Shift

Supposedly, the Modi-Trump call was all about deepening the India–US bond. Trade, security, stability—yeah, sounds great on paper. But, here’s the kicker: ever since Trump crashed into the White House, things have been rocky. Remember Operation Sandhur? Trump’s been slapping tariffs on Indian goods left and right, talking tough, and even snuggling up to Pakistan. India got slammed with a 100% tariff—no chill at all—even after Modi went out of his way to publicly support Trump during his election circus.

Modi Calls Trump a ‘Friend’ as India Balances Between US, China, and Russia

So what does India do? Ditches its old playbook, starts flirting with China and Russia. Gotta keep your options open, right? Meanwhile, the US keeps blocking India on international veto stuff, just to spice things up.

Yet, in public, Modi keeps calling Trump a “friend.” It’s almost impressive, that level of poker face diplomacy. Guess that’s just how the game’s played.