AA Edit | For Now, India Should Stay Out Of Trump Peace Board

Donald Trump may have shot down the remnants of the liberal democratic order. What he is offering to assuage it is an old form of imperialism in which he will play the emperor in ordering peace to all the conflict-ridden spots on the globe, beginning with the Gaza Strip, which he sees more as a valuable piece of waterfront real estate than a home to the Palestinians who have remained nationless since the creation of Israel.

The commercial overtones of the Board of Peace of which he wishes to remain the presiding deity for all time to come is so off-putting that the USA’s closest allies and trading partners on the American continent as well as in Europe have kept off. So too the world’s other superpower, China, which deftly avoided any conflict on trade or otherwise by choosing to stay off the climatically cool party that Davos hosts.

India, on which Mr Trump has placed higher tariff rates than even China, now sits on the horns of a dilemma. Should India play up to Mr Trump and join his Board of Peace or stick to its steadfast policy of strategic autonomy and trade diversification that has set an exemplary tone for the rest of the world long before they saw through Mr Trump’s bluster, tariff tantrums and more than occasional forays into extraterritorial adventures in Iran, Venezuela, Nigeria and Syria.

In self-congratulatory mode all through the first year of his second term, Mr Trump has often patted himself on the back for stopping conflicts and wars, especially the one between India and Pakistan in May 2025. Whatever be the merits of his claims, he is now offering the world his patented style of transactional bargains powered by trade war threats, ostensibly also a more peaceful world in which he, his family and everyone else can make money through trade.

Mr Trump’s invitation to all major world leaders, including those of China and Russia has left India with a conundrum. For every good reason for India to choose to join the 19 or 20 other nations that have signed up so far, there may be two inhibiting the association with a board that had only partial approval from the United Nations, that too specifically to deal with mending Gaza after the war.

The board has all the trimmings of an egotistical head for life who will bring a halt to all the conflicts of the world except perhaps the 8-decade-old Kashmir dispute because India has maintained that it is off-limits for everyone, including claimant Pakistan.

A major inhibiting factor will be the presence of Pakistan that is known to inveigle itself into anything to do with the US or China with an eye on benefitting from such association.

Having given the board an omnipresence in any conflict, Mr Trump would like to perpetuate his role as negotiator, with family and friends who can look for any business opportunities that may emanate. It appears the fate of the Palestinians who are the most affected by Israeli strikes on their habitat is its least concern.

India’s stand in support of a Palestinian state to coexist with Israel has been time-tested and that will remain irrespective of whether the BoP can indeed take the two-state concept forward.

It does appear that the balance of arguments favours India keeping off the BoP for now while the board takes a more concrete shape than developing real estate. Just the fear of missing out or angering Mr Trump should not drive a decision to spend a billion and get in among the signatory nations whereas most of Europe is keeping off.