India, July 29 -- Donald Trump has given the world a rather good sense of how he operates. Six features stand out.

One, Trump is a strict bilateralist. That he didn't care much for multilateralism, except for the stage and attention it gave him, was well-known. But Trump weighs every country on its own merit, as he defines it, rather than as a part of a wider strategy or that particular country's role vis-a-vis another third country.

The China relationship for him, therefore, is about what China brings to the table for him at this moment, not necessarily about what his own concessions would mean for the rest of the world - or even for America after five years. The India relationship is solely about what India brings to the table for him...