India defies US President Donald Trump’s bullying. Will African countries do the same?
Are US President Donald Trump’s attempts to bludgeon the world into submission with massive tariffs starting to backfire?
This question arose after the cosy meeting between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping at this week’s Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Tianjin, China.
At the summit three years ago, Putin was implicitly rebuked by Xi and Modi for his invasion of Ukraine. Other leaders seemed to ignore him. This week in Tianjin, Putin unashamedly blamed the West for the war in Ukraine, chortling as he held hands with Modi, and all three leaders beamed.
“The elephant in the room was President Trump, who has helped end Mr Putin’s isolation, both by welcoming him to US soil for the first time in a decade (for a summit in Alaska) and by clashing with leaders from Brazil, India and South Africa, pushing them closer to Mr Putin,” the New York Times thought.
Trump has slapped 50% tariffs on Indian imports both to pressure Modi to stop buying Russian oil and – supposedly – as punishment for refusing to credit…
