Trump's NSS: India Faces Coercive US Policy, Strategic Role Erodes

• Trump's new National Security Strategy (NSS) signals a "hyper-transactional" US foreign policy, prioritizing immediate, quantifiable benefits over traditional alliances and "values-based" diplomacy.
• The NSS portrays Europe as a "decaying continent," questioning its reliability and signaling an end to "Pax Americana" for European allies.
• This transactional approach negatively impacts India, with USTR demands in trade deals pushing for concessions on IT investments, GM crops, and data localization.
• The document redefines the US-China relationship from ideological competition to an economic rivalry, potentially seeking a "special G-2 type" relationship with Beijing.
• This shift erodes India's strategic weight, potentially leaving it vulnerable to a more assertive China, and threatens people-to-people ties by targeting "mass migration" and meritocracy.

Why It Matters: Trump's new foreign policy threatens India's strategic interests.