India, Oct. 5 -- Every headline about Donald Trump's tariffs sounds like another disaster for India. Yet this time, the blow landed softer than feared. His 100% duties fall on branded drugs, sparing India's generic exports - the foundation of its pharmaceutical trade. That is the silver lining. The darker truth is that India was even holding its breath. An industry that should be shaping the future was instead bracing for Washington's next move. That is the real vulnerability.

Trump's action shows how fragile India's position is when it leans too heavily on the past - on its role as the world's low-cost pharmacy. The future of medicine is being written in biotechnology and Artificial Intelligence (AI), and those who master it will define...