President Donald Trump has China in his crosshairs - and free-traders here holding their breaths - as he prepares to deliver a capstone speech to the World Economic Forum in Davos on Friday. But a Trump-led confrontation with India over trade could also nose its way into the great-powers showdown heating up the conference's otherwise studied cool.

Union minister MJ Akbar today asserted that India is a responsible nuclear state and believes in "no first use" of such weapons, even as he questioned why no action is being taken at the global level against proliferation.

The United States insisted Wednesday it was not turning its back on the world as President Donald Trump prepared to sell his "America First" message to sceptical fellow leaders in Davos.