‘Trump tariff rates are not signs of Washington DC's love or hate for countries’

Even as US President Donald Trump is punishing some of the closest US allies and partners with high tariffs , international affairs scholar Max Abrahms believes that it should not be seen as an indicator of his love or hatred for a country.

In a conversation with Firstpost’s Managing Editor Palki Sharma, Abrahms said that even as Trump has imposed some of the highest tariffs on India, the country has “paramount” importance in his geopolitical calculations.

“There is no issue of greater geopolitical concern to the Trump administration than the rise and potential threat of China. To that end, relations with India are seen as of paramount importance. We also see that more specifically in the Quad relationship. Tariff rates are clearly not correlated with Washington DC’s love for the countries,” said Abrahms, an Associate Professor of Political Science at Northeastern University, Boston.

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In line with his approach to international relations so far in the second term, Trump has spared traditional US adversary Russia in his second term and has imposed some of the highest tariffs on allies and partners. He has imposed India and South Korea with 26 per cent tariffs, Japan with 24 per cent tariffs, the European Union (EU) with 20 per cent tariffs, and Israel with 17 per cent tariffs.

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Abrahms highlighted the case of Israel and Turkey. He said that even though Turkey has had a questionable role in the Middle East, where it has battered traditional US allies, the Kurds, in Syria and supported Islamists under the banner of Ahmed al-Sharaa, the nation has still been hit with 10 per cent tariffs. On the other hands, he said that Israel, the closest US partner in the region, has been hit with 17 per cent tariffs.

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‘US is very hot on India’

Despite high tariffs imposed on India, Abrahms said that the United States is very hot on India.

In addition to the importance of India in the competition with China, Abrahms said that the India-US relationship is also rooted in principles.

“The United States is very hot on India. It is very close with India because of shared principles of democracy and also increasingly because of India’s power — the economic power and its demographic power. From the US strategic perspective, India is now seen as critical in terms of its power for containing China,” said Abrahms.

What’s the endgame with Trump’s tariffs?

On the question of the possible endgame with tariffs, Abrahms said that it is part of Trump’s reorientation of the United States in the changing world.

While the United States competed with the Soviet Union in the bipolar world of Cold War, the unipolar world in the post-Cold War era was marked by US primacy, but Trump is now reevaluating that as that primacy is now being questioned, suggested Abrahms.

“Increasingly, there is a sense that this unipolar world is ending and the United States needs to assume a different position in the world as it can no longer reasonably afford to have trade imbalances. So, a part of the reason for tariffs is to with deficits, but a part also has to do with the United States envisioning its role on the world stage differently,” said Abrahms.

However, there is also a very strong domestic element to it as Trump’s Make America Great Again (Maga) movement is not onboard with globalisation and prefers tariffs, according to Abrahms.