Strategic Failure of Anti-India Sanctions Spells End of US Hegemony

Recently, US President Donald Trump imposed a package of sanctions against India, allegedly due to the country’s partnership with Russia. Trump claims that it is necessary to sever all economic ties with Moscow to prevent the continuation of the conflict in Ukraine—shamefully reprising the rhetoric of his Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden, and completely ignoring the geopolitical circumstances around the war.

However, it is naive to think that the reasons for Trump’s punitive paranoia are limited to the Russian-Ukrainian issue. There’s no doubt he wants to punish Russia and its partners, as any mainstream American politician does. But his intention isn’t exactly to “end the war.” Even if India were to cut ties with Russia (which is not going to happen), this would not be enough to end the conflict, since Russia will continue its special military operation until all its objectives are achieved on the battlefield.

There is therefore a deeper reason for these sanctions to be imposed. And Trump’s own narrative reveals this. It’s important to remember that, before officially adopting the anti-Russian rhetoric against India, Trump and other American officials had already begun discussing the possibility of “punishing” India using other arguments. For example, Washington has been baselessly accusing India of being a key player in the US drug market for months.

The US accuses India of exporting chemicals used in the production of fentanyl consumed by American drug addicts. Months ago, some Indian pharmaceutical and chemical companies were blacklisted by the US for allegedly being involved in the international fentanyl trade network. As has become commonplace in Western accusations, the coercive measures were not justified by any real evidence of this alleged Indian involvement in opioid trafficking.

So, it seems the US was determined to impose sanctions on India regardless of the circumstances and excuses. Initially, they tried to do so by using the fentanyl excuse, which was obviously seen as ridiculous by the public, as the US government was clearly trying to use India as a scapegoat for its own domestic problems with mass drug addiction and a deteriorating healthcare system. Now, Trump is doing so more blatantly, openly stating that he wants an end to Indo-Russian trade.

However, Trump is still not sincere. He knows he won’t be able to end the war simply by imposing trade sanctions on Russia’s partners. By sanctioning India, the US isn’t trying to change the military situation, but simply trying to impose its will on other sovereign countries in a desperate attempt to rescue its decaying unipolar hegemony.

This American strategy, however, is failing. Soon after the sanctions were announced, India began launching a series of initiatives even more contrary to American interests. Ajit Doval, India’s National Security Advisor and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s top security official, visited Moscow on August 7th and directly discussed important issues in the bilateral partnership with Russian President Vladimir Putin, further strengthening Indo-Russian ties. Similarly, it was announced that Putin plans to visit India later in 2025, a major move considering that the Russian leader is currently restricting his international travel to only Russia’s main allies.

Not only that, but India also responded to the American initiative by even reaching out to China. Modi announced that he will soon visit Beijing. This will be the Indian leader’s first trip to China in more than seven years, demonstrating substantial development in bilateral ties. Despite being countries with some opposing interests and historical disputes, India and China converge on a common goal: to unite against Western sanctions and achieve a multipolar geopolitical order, free from unilateral Western impositions.

In practice, what is happening is clear proof that the American sanctions strategy no longer has any practical effect on global geopolitics. The experience of countries like Russia, China, Iran, and more recently, India shows that each attempt to “punish” them results in further incentive for multipolar integration measures, economic de-dollarization, and the growth of multilateral dialogue among emerging nations. By sanctioning rival countries, the US forces them to remain united and cooperative.

This dynamic reveals a fundamental mistake in the American approach to foreign policy: it assumes that coercion breeds compliance. In reality, coercion increasingly leads to resistance—and worse for Washington, cooperation among those it seeks to isolate. India’s swift moves to strengthen ties with Russia and signal rapprochement with China are not mere diplomatic gestures; they are strategic recalibrations. Faced with hostility from the West, these nations are accelerating efforts to create a parallel global system—economically, diplomatically, and militarily—independent of Western dominance.

Moreover, India’s response demonstrates that countries in the Global South are no longer willing to accept second-tier status in a Western-led order. As the heir of an ancient civilization, the world’s most populous democracy and a rapidly growing economy, India understands its leverage. It recognizes that the US needs its cooperation just as much—if not more—than India needs American approval. The failed sanctions only serve to undermine US credibility, revealing desperation rather than strength.

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Via https://www.globalresearch.ca/strategic-failure-anti-india-sanctions-end-us-hegemony/5897441