As a lot of the Western world recoils from Donald Trump’s return to the White Home, India’s response seems strikingly completely different. The Munich Safety Report 2026 presents Indian public opinion on US President Donald Trump as distinct from that of most Western democracies, marked by comparatively greater approval of his insurance policies, rising concern about US financial coercion, and declining perception within the necessity of US international management.Round 38% of Indian respondents agreed that Trump’s insurance policies have been good for India, and roughly 36% agreed they have been good for the world. These ranges of settlement are considerably greater than in Canada, France, Germany, and Japan, the place settlement sometimes stays within the low teenagers
What the report says
In accordance with the MSI, India ranks among the many extra favorable international locations when respondents have been requested whether or not “Donald Trump’s insurance policies are good for my nation” and “good for the world.”The report famous that Indian respondents have been much less important of Trump than Western public and extra prone to categorical conditional or partial approval of his method, even when uncertainty stays about its international influence.Whereas Indian views of Trump’s geopolitical influence have been comparatively much less damaging, the report recorded higher concern relating to his financial insurance policies. Trump administration imposed 50% tariffs on India. With the current India-US commerce deal, the extra 25% tariffs was introduced right down to 18%.The report acknowledged that the US threat rating for India elevated by 18 factors between 2024 and 2025, the biggest improve recorded amongst all dangers within the Indian profile. Regardless of this rise, the US didn’t rank amongst India’s prime perceived threats; China remained a better concern, whereas Russia was considered as comparatively low threat.The findings are primarily based on the Munich Safety Index (MSI), which surveys public attitudes throughout G7 and main International South international locations.
Period of ‘wrecking-ball politics’
The report framed Trump as a central determine in what it known as an period of “wrecking-ball politics,” characterised by challenges to multilateral establishments and the post-1945 liberal order. Within the Indian case, the report highlighted long-standing skepticism towards the Western “rules-based order,” which policymakers have criticized for selective utility and double requirements.The report cited exterior affairs minister S Jaishankar’s evaluation that the present order has typically appeared “anarchic and permeated by double requirements” from a International South perspective. Inside this context, the report instructed that Trump’s problem to established establishments was not uniformly perceived as damaging in India.
