Trump's policy ‘reversal’ may push India towards China, Russia, says analyst Fareed Zakaria: ‘Damage is done’

US President Donald Trump's "sudden, inexplicable hostility toward India reverses policies pursued" under five US administrations, including his own previous one, a CNN host analysed.

"If it holds, this reversal may be the biggest strategic mistake of the Trump presidency so far," Indian-American journalist Fareed Zakaria said in his analysis on CNN.

Global affairs analyst Zakaria also shed light on the impact of Trump's "reversal" on Indians. He suggested that Trump's new policy reversal against India may push the latter towards Russia and China.

He said, "Indians believe that America has shown its true colours, its [US']unreliability, its willingness to be brutal to those it calls its friends."

"They will understandably feel that they need to hedge their bets, stay close to Russia and even make amends with China," he added.

‘Damage is done’

Zakaria noted that India has a long history of seeking to be non-aligned.

"Under [Prime Minister Narendra] Modi, [India] embraced a variation called multi-alignment, allowing it to freelance and maintain good ties with all sides," he added.

He added, "Persistent American diplomacy and the rise of China had been chipping away at that stance, and India had slowly but surely been embracing closer ties with America."

But that's "no more" the case, he said, analysing that "even if Trump reverses course once again, the damage is done."

From Clinton to Trump 2.0: US's policy towards India

Zakaria highlighted America's "sustained outreach toward India" how Trump reversed the policies that were pursued in favour of India under five administrations.

1. "President Clinton's visit in 2000 was hugely successful and opened up the possibility of a new home relationship between the two countries," he said.

2. "The pivotal shift took place under George W Bush. His administration realised that a rising China was transforming the international system, and the single most important counterweight to China could be India..."

"A close relationship between Washington and New Delhi would be the key to preventing Chinese domination of Asia and securing America's interests in the region," Zakaria said, noting that "the giant obstacle in the way "was India's nuclear weapons program."

3. He said the Bush administration decided that India should be treated like a great power, like France or Britain or China. "It offered a historic deal that ended the isolation India had faced because of its news. That deal, expertly navigated on the Indian side by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, marked a watershed in the relations between the two countries," he said.

4. "After that, things got closer. The Obama administration saw India as key to its pivot to Asia and supported New Delhi's bid to become a permanent member of the UN Security Council. He greatly increased trade between the two economies," Zakaria said.

5. The CNN analyst went on to say that the first Trump administration "took an important leap forward politically. It elevated the Quad, a defense-oriented group of the US, Australia, Japan and India, and gave it more substance. Trump also embraced and promoted his personal relationship with Prime Minister Modi."

6. "President Biden built on the Trump legacy, forging greater cooperation in defense and economics. India began planning to cooperate with the US in the manufacture of everything - from fighter jets to computer jets in the second quarter of this year."

7. "Enter Trump 2.0 -- "With little warning, Donald Trump has undone decades of painstaking effort by American diplomats. He placed India in the highest category of tariff countries along with Syria and Myanmar, while placing Pakistan at just 19% and offering joint efforts to look for oil in that country...he met with Pakistan's army chief in private..."