India, Feb. 16 -- Much of the pessimism about the potential implications of Donald Trump's second term for the international order may be exaggerated. For those of us studying international relations through the lens of history and how States tend to behave, the foreign policy of the newly inaugurated Trump presidency feels like a deja vu moment. International politics is an anarchic place. Powerful States attempt to set the terms, and the less powerful ones strategise their moves. This framing is important to make sense of not just the world according to President Trump but also Indo-United States (US) relations.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent visit to the US led to several significant outcomes, as reflected in the extensive 36-p...