New Delhi, July 31 -- On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump made abundant use of capital letters in a message posted on Truth Social to lay out a tariff rate for imports from India, effective from 1 August: 25%. If this does not sound awfully punitive, there was a sting in the tail.

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An additional but unspecified "penalty" would be imposed, he added. To justify this, he listed out US grouses ranging from India's "strenuous and obnoxious" non-monetary trade barriers, as he called them, to Indian purchases of arms and energy from Russia.

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That his post began by acknowledging the friendship b...