John Mearsheimer, professor of political science at the University of Chicago, has said India’s response to U.S. tariffs and pressure shows diplomatic sophistication, comparing with what he described as Washington’s strategic blunders under President Donald Trump.
Speaking on a podcast with Glenn Diesen, a professor of Russian international affairs, Mearsheimer said the Trump administration’s handling of alliances “makes no sense at all from a balance of power perspective.” He argued that Washington’s main strategic focus should be containing China, but instead its policies are pushing Russia, India, Iran and North Korea closer together.
“China is a formidable opponent of the United States both economically and militarily. So if you’re in a system where China is your principal concern and you want to contain China, you then want to have good relations with Russia and India because you don’t want them on the Chinese side of the ledger,” the US scholar said.
“But what the Trump administration has done by continuing the war in Ukraine and treating the Russians quite badly despite what happened in Alaska is in effect continue to push the Russians into the arms of the Chinese. And now what’s happened is that as a result of putting 50% tariffs on India and saying all sorts of terrible things about India, Trump has driven the Indians into the arms of the Chinese.”
He pointed to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Tianjin, where leaders from India, Russia and China were seen demonstrating unity. “The Indians, the Russians and the Chinese are all becoming the best of friends which again is not in the American national interest,” he said.
Mearsheimer said American strategy was a “gross violation of balance of power logic.” “What the Americans should want is a situation where India, Russia and the United States are the best of friends. But exactly the opposite has happened. This is just not in our strategic interest. And one can only scratch his or her head and ask what do the Americans think they’re doing? Or to put it more pointedly, what does President Trump think he’s doing?”
He added that the administration’s approach had united adversaries. “What we see happening here is that the Russians, the Chinese, the North Koreans and the Iranians have all come together to in effect balance against the United States…And now we’ve pushed the Indians into that same arrangement into that same coalition. This makes absolutely no sense from an American point of view.”
The professor further said India was showing tactical skill, drawing from its Cold War tradition of non-alignment. “If you look at the Indians, the Indians have historically played this game. They played it during the Cold War. The Indians were very smart. They were…the word we used to use was non-aligned. They didn’t want to align with the Soviet side or with the American side in the Cold War. And if you look at how the Indians are behaving these days, they were moving towards the United States, but given Trump’s recent behavior, they’ve moved more towards the Chinese. But the Indians are very cagey, they’re very sophisticated, and they fully understand you don’t want to get too close to the United States, and you don’t want to get too close to China.”
He contrasted today’s multipolar world with the Cold War, saying countries like India now have more flexibility. “It was a rather simple world where the two superpowers had huge amounts of leverage. Yes, there were countries like India that were not aligned but by and large you had to pick sides. But that world has gone away.”
