When the President of the United States speaks with reckless inconsistency and his envoy rushes in to apply diplomatic balm, the question is unavoidable: whom should India believe—Donald Trump or Sergio Gor? US ambassador-designate and Special Envoy to South and Central Asia Sergio Gor wants New Delhi to trust Washington. He urges India to look beyond President Trump’s erratic, often magniloquent statements that casually breach diplomatic protocol and, at times, border on outright insult—particularly toward India, the world’s largest democracy with over 1.4 billion citizens and a globally respected leader in Prime Minister Narendra Modi. That reassurance might sound comforting, but it also exposes a deeper contradiction at the heart of American diplomacy today: a White House that speaks impulsively and an establishment that frantically backpedals. Trump may have secured a second term, but he would do well to remember that America’s success—especially in the 21st century—has not been built in isolation. The Indian diaspora has been a silent pillar of American progress. From Silicon Valley to Seattle, from Wall Street to hospital wards, from cutting-edge AI labs to NASA’s mission control rooms, Indians have helped power the US economy, innovation ecosystem, and scientific leadership. At NASA headquarters and across American space programmes, Indian-origin scientists form the backbone of operational excellence. Two astronauts of Indian origin—Sunita Williams earlier and Shubhanshu Shukla later—symbolise not just individual brilliance, but the deep, civilisational synergy between the two democracies. For Washington to speak down to India while benefiting from Indian intellect is not just hypocrisy—it is strategic blindness.
Against this backdrop, Gor’s conciliatory statement in New Delhi signals something more revealing than friendship. It reflects Washington’s realisation that Narendra Modi is not a “hard nut” to crack—he is a leader who cannot be bent. Unlike several of his predecessors, Modi neither seeks validation from Western capitals nor mistakes personal rapport for national interest. History bears this out. Many former Indian prime ministers, barring rare exceptions like Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, appeared overly deferential before the White House. Modi, by contrast, speaks as an equal—to Washington, Beijing, Moscow, or Brussels. He does not prostrate; he negotiates. Gor’s assertion that “no other nation is as essential to the United States as India” is not flattery—it is a geopolitical fact Washington can no longer ignore. As trade talks resume from January 12, the subtext is unmistakable: America needs India far more today than it is willing to publicly admit. Yes, trade matters. But so do security, counter-terrorism, energy cooperation, technology, education, health, and resilient supply chains. Gor’s announcement that India will be invited as a full member of the Pax Silica alliance, a US-led initiative to secure silicon and semiconductor supply chains, is tacit acknowledgment that without India, America’s China-containment strategy is hollow. Trump’s claim of a “real” friendship with Modi may indeed be genuine. But real friendship, as Gor himself said, allows disagreement—and India will not hesitate to disagree when its sovereignty, dignity, or strategic autonomy is questioned. India is no longer a junior partner awaiting Western approval. It is a civilisational state, an economic engine, a technological force, and a geopolitical balancer. If Washington wants trust, it must first ensure coherence between its President’s rhetoric and its diplomats’ assurances. Until then, India will listen politely—but decide independently.
