The symbolism is powerful: days after the US hit most imports from India with punitive 50 per cent tariffs, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will this weekend make his first visit in seven years to China. Long-standing tensions between New Delhi and Beijing began easing before Donald Trump’s second presidency, and India has played down any link between Modi’s trip and the US tariff barrage. But it is clear that Trump’s actions in recent months have dealt a heavy blow to efforts by successive US governments to build a relationship with India that would act as a bulwark against Chinese domination of the Indo-Pacific.

Trump, who has dismissed India as a “dead economy”, argues that the 25 per cent “reciprocal” tariffs he had already imposed were justified by New Delhi’s hefty trade surplus and highly protected domestic market. But his claim that the additional 25 per cent rate implemented on Wednesday was a response to Indian purchases of discounted Russian oil that were helping to fund Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine will only fuel complaints about US hypocrisy and capriciousness. Until recently, Washington had no objection to such purchases. Nor has Trump taken similar action against China — an even bigger buyer of Russian crude.

New Delhi was already upset about Trump’s deepening embrace of its arch-rival Pakistan. The US president has echoed some of Islamabad’s phraseology on the disputed territory of Kashmir since he claimed to have brokered the ceasefire that ended bloody clashes between the Asian neighbours in May. In June, Trump held a two-hour private lunch in Washington with Pakistani strongman Asim Munir.