As US President Donald Trump nears the end of his first term in office, his popularity among Indians is soaring

As US President Donald Trump nears the end of his first term in office, his popularity among Indians is soaring, but the same cannot be said about his protectionist trade policies, which enjoy little fanfare.
On the heels of Trump’s first state visit to India early next week, the Pew polling firm has released new data on Indians’ attitudes toward the US president, showing that while his confidence rating in the realm of world affairs has jumped over four-fold since he took office in 2016 – from 14 to 56 percent – Indians are increasingly skeptical about his aggressive approach to trade.
Nearly half of those surveyed panned Trump’s penchant for tariffs, with 48 percent voicing disapproval. The figure likely reflects a burgeoning trade spat that’s erupted between Washington and New Delhi over the last year, which has seen both nations slap new duties on each other’s goods, and the US even dropping India from its Generalized System of Preferences, revoking a number of tariff exemptions.