US President Donald Trump is miffed that India has not acknowledged his role in India-Pakistan truce, whereas Pakistan has not only acknowledged his role but has even nominated him for a Nobel Peace Prize, said former diplomat Vikas Swarup while giving interview to ANI.
Swarup cited three reasons why the US imposed high tariffs on India. First, India’s membership in BRICS, which is promoting de-dollarization, is seen by Donald Trump as aligning with an anti-American bloc that India should avoid.
Second, India did not acknowledge the US role in brokering a truce with Pakistan after Operation Sindoor.
Third, Washington is using tariffs as pressure tactics to push India into accepting its maximalist demands in trade talks — particularly on granting greater access to India’s dairy and agriculture markets and allowing genetically modified crops.
#WATCH | On the diplomatic row between India and the US in the wake of tariffs, former diplomat Vikas Swarup says, “We have to understand why these tariffs have been imposed. I personally feel that there are three reasons. One, Trump is not happy with India because we are a… pic.x.com/ZhsrTAHDup
— ANI (@ANI) August 13, 2025
Talking to ANI, Swarup said, “We have to understand why these tariffs have been imposed. I personally feel that there are three reasons. One, Trump is not happy with India because we are a member of BRICS and somehow, in his head, he has got this notion that BRICS is an anti-America alliance which is hell-bent on creating an alternative currency to the dollar. So, because of that, he feels that India should not be a member of the BRICS. Two, Operation Sindoor and his so-called role in bringing about the ceasefire. We have been saying right from the beginning that Trump had no role because we do not accept external mediation. This ceasefire was mediated directly between the DGMOs of Pakistan and India at the request of the DGMO of Pakistan.”
He added, “Trump has now said almost 30 times that it was he who got the two countries to stop back from the brink, who stopped a nuclear conflagration in the subcontinent. So, obviously he is miffed that India has not acknowledged his role, whereas Pakistan has not only acknowledged his role but has even nominated him for a Nobel Peace Prize.”
“Three, this is part of his pressure tactics to get India to sign on the dotted line on the maximalist demands that the US is making with regard to access to our dairy and agriculture and GM Crops. We have not caved in and it is also in a way a signal to Russia because he is also frustrated that he has not been able to get President Putin to agree to the ceasefire that Zelenskyy has agreed to. Now they are meeting in Alaska on 15th August. If there is a positive outcome of the Alaska talks then I am 100% sure that the Russia sanctions will be off the table because Putin is not going to accept a ceasefire and yet be saddled with economic sanctions,” he stated.
Swarup remarked that Donald Trump views himself as a dealmaker and has made “peacemaker” a central part of his political brand.
He pointed to Trump’s involvement in mediating various global disputes — from Thailand and Cambodia, to Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, to Armenia and Azerbaijan — saying that Trump has made it a point to insert himself into such conflicts.
According to Swarup, Trump considers the India-Pakistan mediation the most significant, given that both are nuclear powers. He noted that Trump believes he deserves recognition for these efforts, especially since Barack Obama remains the only American president to have received the Nobel Peace Prize.
In Swarup’s view, Trump is eager to outdo Obama and has openly expressed his desire for the award, hoping that if his earlier interventions do not earn it, successfully brokering a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine could secure him the honour.
On August 6, Trump signed an Executive Order imposing an additional 25 per cent tariff on imports from India in response to New Delhi’s purchase of Russian oil, taking the total tariff on India to 50 per cent.