The conventional wisdom among Washington officials is that Pakistan is “playing” Donald Trump better than its Indian counterpart. This includes praising Donald Trump to the heavens at every turn, nominating him for the Nobel Peace Prize with every breath, offering him (snake?) oil, and generally agreeing to everything, including serving on peace commissions.Perhaps Pakistan felt that New Delhi had returned to its former role as an indispensable intermediary, as it remained an apathetic child who refused to bow to President Trump’s arbitrary will. Overnight, the illusion was shattered when President Trump announced that the US had reached a trade deal with India that would reduce tariffs on Indian exports to 18%. Most of the details about the deal are still being worked out, but that didn’t stop Pakistan (or South Asia) from having a full-blown meltdown on Twitter.
One viral tweet summed up the atmosphere: “Movers, shakers, and panhandlers.”
This line has become an abbreviation for something deeper than trade arithmetic. The reaction in Pakistan was not about supply chains or tariff schedules. It was about hierarchical structure.
online calculation
The first wave of reaction was one of disbelief. Then came the irony. Then something close to anger emerged, much of it directed inward. Pakistani social media users began almost ceremonially listing the various ways in which Islamabad had openly courted President Trump. The Nobel Peace Prize nomination has resurfaced many times, often framed as a punchline. So was Pakistan’s enthusiastic support for Trump’s various peace initiatives and grand visions.One widely circulated post puts it bluntly. Pakistan did everything to please President Trump, including nominating him for the Nobel Peace Prize, joining his “Peace Commission” and offering cooperation in the mineral field. But India resisted Trump’s pressure for months and eventually lowered its tariffs. To make matters worse, users also pointed out that India had just secured significant trade concessions with the European Union.The tone quickly changed from disbelief to gallows humor. One image circulating online shows Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Army Chief Asim Munir holding up the cover of an AI-like magazine featuring Mr. Modi and Mr. Trump, with both leaders pointing to the image as if presenting evidence of a reality they cannot change. The accompanying caption in Urdu roughly translated as, “Asim Munir is stuck among them…The world has moved on.”On both Facebook and Instagram, memes treated the difference between the 18% and 19% tariffs like a scoreboard. The comment thread was filled with variations on the same lament. “Why does bending over backwards get you sent off?” Why didn’t obedience lead to influence?Reaction videos on YouTube were also often noisy and incoherent, and showed unusual convergence. Commenters questioned the entire premise of Trump’s Pakistan strategy. Many wondered, if this was flattery in return, what had been achieved?
Why did you dig so deep?
Prime Minister Modi and President Trump
For months, Pakistan’s elite discourse believed that while India-US relations were deteriorating, Pakistan-US relations were stable. President Trump’s public frustration with India was misinterpreted as a strategic rift. Pakistan’s warmth was seen as an influence. Proximity was mistaken for power.The trade deal decisively breaks that narrative. What Pakistan’s discourse missed was that India’s apparent indifference was not neglect. It was an attitude.New Delhi didn’t just reject Trump’s flattery. Actively refused his participation in the theater. Reports as far back as last year suggested that as tariff tensions escalated, India chose to distance itself rather than despair. At the height of the standoff, international media reported that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had refused multiple phone calls from President Trump, an almost unprecedented move in the performance of great power diplomacy. In this case, the silence was no accident. Communication was good.That callousness became even clearer in what would later become the last direct exchange between the two leaders. The New York Times reported that the June call turned sour as Trump claimed credit for easing tensions between India and Pakistan and brought up familiar Nobel Peace Prize rhetoric. New Delhi strongly objected, insisting that India and Pakistan had handled the issue bilaterally without US mediation. After this telephone conversation, the two leaders did not speak for several months.In hindsight, that is what makes the trade deal so precarious for Pakistan’s story. India did not win by playing along with Trump. I won by not courting him at all.