The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has not visited India since the start of the full-fledged war in Ukraine. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not travelled to China in seven years. Both those patterns are now about to break, and not through any coincidence. As Donald Trump, the president of the United States of America, dumps heavy tariffs on India, uses disparaging language for its economy, and uses social media to level threats, New Delhi has responded with sharp signals to Washington and its allies in the European Union. The US has doubled tariffs against Indian imports and the EU has imposed sanctions against an India-based refinery, both as punishment for Indian purchases of Russian oil. As the Indian government has pointed out, these are hypocritical steps: the EU and the US still trade with Russia, and both benefitted from India's consumption of Russian crude, which kept global oil prices under control. But after making its point calmly, India has avoided the megaphone diplomacy of Mr Trump. Instead, India has quietly indicated to the West that it has options. New Delhi wants to keep its friendship with the US and Europe intact but not at the cost of its national interest.

Mr Modi's decision to visit China for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation leaders' summit in late August needs to be seen in this light. His phone call last week with Mr Putin, during which he confirmed that he would host the Russian leader later this year, doubled down on that message, as did the meeting of India’s national security adviser, Ajit Doval, with Mr Putin at the Kremlin, also last week. If anyone had doubts about the plan behind the messaging, Mr Modi also spoke on the phone to the Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Brazil and India are the countries worst targeted by Mr Trump's tariffs for reasons unrelated to trade. At the same time, Mr Modi also spoke to the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, on Monday, underscoring India's commitment to ending the war in that country and pushing for talks to resolve the conflict between Moscow and Kyiv. This deft diplomacy, a hallmark of India's foreign policy, is a living testimony to the benefits of strategic autonomy. Mr Trump can hurt India. But last week only proves that he can never isolate India.