Trump-Modi friendship was strong, but now US-India ties are strained. What caused the severe turbulence?

Synopsis: The Straits Times’ senior columnist Ravi Velloor distils 45 years of experience covering the Asian continent, with expert guests.

In this episode, senior columnist Ravi speaks with Prof Sumit Ganguly, Senior Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution and Director of the Huntington Program on improving US-India relations.

They discuss the severe turbulence in bilateral ties including the massive tariffs the Trump administration placed on India, India’s refusal to give Trump credit for intervening to stop the India-Pakistan conflict in May, 2025, and the removal of ‘Indo’ from the USIndoPacific Command, now reverted to its old name US Pacific Command – which Indians have taken as a deliberate slight from Washington.

They also examine the question: Is India playing a waiting game to see Trump off, and can the US really do without Indian backing if it is to maintain influence in the Indian Ocean.

Highlights (click/tap above)

1:04 Why USIndoPacom was changed to USPacom

3:46 ‘Body blows’ to US-India bilateral relationship

7:20 Trump-Modi personal chemistry is gone

8:47 Present situation is an “aberration”

10:48 The Pakistan factor

14:18 End of India’s muscular foreign policy

17:16 Opportunity for China to improve India ties

Read Ravi's columns: https://str.sg/3xRP

Follow Ravi on X: https://twitter.com/RaviVelloor

Host: Ravi Velloor (velloor@sph.com.sg)

Produced and edited by: Fa’izah Sani