"Rising American unilateralism in trade and immigration tests India's doctrine of strategic autonomy." Critically examine.

Strategic autonomy means India chooses its partners and policies on its own terms. Recent U.S. actions in trade and immigration, taken without negotiating with India, strain this doctrine, but India has so far held its line.

How unilateralism tests autonomy

• Tariffs for foreign-policy aims: In 2025 the U.S. added a penalty tariff on India for buying Russian oil. MEA noted that the U.S. and EU still trade with Russia and called this "unjustified and unreasonable" [4].
• Linkage: When energy choices are tied to market access, any trade concession can look like accepting U.S. foreign-policy demands.
• Exposure through skilled workers: Indians are about 71% of H-1B beneficiaries [1]. A 2025 proclamation imposed a $100,000 payment on new H-1B petitions [2], and the Department of Labor has suspended PERM processing for tech employers accused of misuse [3]. India has no treaty lever over these rules.
• Asymmetry: India runs a trade surplus with the U.S., so it would lose more in a tariff war.

Counter-view: limits of the claim

• Not India-specific: Cloudera, a U.S. firm, faced the same PERM suspension [3]. The immigration curbs are largely U.S. domestic politics.
• Partnership intact: The Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership, Quad and TRUST continue, and an interim trade framework was agreed in February 2026 [5].
• Autonomy exercised: India neither retaliated nor gave in. It publicly rejected the oil-linked pressure and pledged to protect its "national interests and economic security" [4].
• Verdict: The immigration curbs hit India as a side effect. The oil-linked tariff tests India's autonomy directly.

Way forward

• Keep energy and foreign-policy conditions out of the trade agreement.
• Buy crude from more suppliers so no single partner has oil leverage.
• Expand Global Capability Centres, projected at about 2,400 centres, 2.8 million jobs and $105 billion by 2030 [6], so work moves to India instead of workers to the U.S.

American unilateralism has made strategic autonomy costlier, but it has not removed it. If India stays firm on core interests and flexible on trade, it can keep the U.S. partnership without becoming subordinate, in line with the Article 51 ideal of "just and honourable relations" among nations.