India’s newly concluded trade agreement with the United States has sparked a wave of criticism and introspection within Pakistan, where political leaders, analysts, and commentators say months of high-profile outreach to Washington have delivered little tangible benefit. Despite Islamabad’s overt diplomatic gestures toward U.S. President Donald Trump, Pakistan has emerged with a higher tariff burden than India an outcome many across the border view as both symbolic and strategic failure.
Under the agreement announced on February 2, U.S. tariffs on Indian exports will be reduced to 18 per cent. Pakistan, by contrast, faces a 19 per cent tariff rate despite what critics describe as sustained lobbying efforts by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Army Chief Asim Munir.
The contrast has drawn sharp attention in Pakistan, particularly as India is widely seen to have resisted pressure from Washington for months while negotiating from a position of economic leverage and strategic autonomy.
Optics Versus Outcomes
Trump’s announcement was accompanied by a flurry of posts on his Truth Social platform, including images of India Gate and a magazine cover featuring Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi alongside the U.S. President. The visual messaging underscored what many in Pakistan interpreted as a diplomatic imbalance one that favoured New Delhi despite Islamabad’s overtures.
Those overtures included Pakistan nominating Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize and backing his inclusion on the Board of Peace moves that critics now say yielded no corresponding economic advantage.
“The optics are brutal,” said one Pakistani commentator. “India didn’t flatter. India negotiated.”
Social Media Backlash and Political Critique
The tariff differential has triggered a fierce reaction on Pakistani social media, where users framed the outcome as a humiliation for Islamabad’s foreign policy establishment.
A post by Pakistan-based X user Umar Ali went viral for its biting metaphor, likening Pakistan’s relationship with Washington to one-sided loyalty without reward. The post was accompanied by an AI-generated image depicting General Munir holding a box of rare minerals, juxtaposed with a magazine cover featuring Modi and Trump an image that quickly became shorthand for public anger.
Former Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf minister Hammad Azhar framed the issue as a strategic miscalculation rather than bad luck.
“Foreign policy in the 21st century isn’t about optics or personal relationships,” Azhar wrote on X. “It’s about economic strength, tariffs, and market access. India’s trade deals with the EU and the US prove that sycophancy and photo ops are useless.”
Strategic Autonomy Versus Dependence
Opposition leaders and analysts argue that the episode highlights a deeper divergence in how India and Pakistan approach global negotiations. While New Delhi has increasingly positioned itself as a long-term economic and strategic partner backed by market size, manufacturing scale, and geopolitical relevance—Pakistan is seen as relying heavily on personal engagement and symbolic gestures.
Journalist Asad Toor warned that the tariff outcome compounds Pakistan’s broader economic vulnerabilities, including declining exports, weak foreign investment, and diminishing bargaining power.
“This isn’t just about one percentage point,” he said. “It’s about where Pakistan stands in the global economic hierarchy and how little leverage it currently has.”
Journalist Imran Riaz Khan was even more blunt. “The ‘Salesman-in-Chief’ strategy has failed,” he wrote. “You can give away Balochistan’s minerals in wooden boxes, but you cannot buy respect.”
Digital creator Wajahat Khan echoed that sentiment, arguing that Trump approached the two countries differently based on perceived strength.
“Trump is a businessman,” Khan wrote. “He saw a manager and a shopkeeper and gave them a shopkeeper’s deal. India came as a partner and walked away with the 18 per cent prize. This is the cost of having a government without the backbone of a public mandate.”
India’s Broader Trade Momentum
The backlash in Pakistan has been amplified by the timing of the announcement. India has recently finalised back-to-back trade agreements with the European Union and the United States one of which has been described by global observers as the “mother of all trade deals.”
Together, these agreements are expected to significantly boost India’s export potential, with estimates suggesting an additional $150 billion in exports over the next decade. Industry analysts say the deals could strengthen India’s manufacturing base, deepen supply-chain integration, and enhance its appeal as a long-term economic partner.
A Cautionary Moment for Islamabad
For Pakistan, the tariff outcome has become a cautionary tale about the limits of symbolic diplomacy in an era defined by economic scale and negotiating power. The domestic backlash suggests growing frustration with a foreign policy approach that prioritises access and optics over leverage and outcomes.
As one senior analyst put it, “India negotiated like a country that knows its value. Pakistan negotiated like a country hoping for goodwill.”
The episode, critics say, may well force Islamabad to reassess not just its trade strategy but the broader assumptions underpinning its engagement with major powers.
