A full reading of what Donald Trump actually said at a White House press conference on Monday reveals that the US president did not actually threaten India with retaliation (Reuters photo)

Diplomacy is a fine art. It leaves no room for misinterpretation. But sometimes, lack of context can lead to a misunderstanding. A misunderstanding of the kind seen this morning when US President Donald Trump was reported to have "threatened" India over its export ban on the drug hydroxychloroquine.

India is the biggest producer and exporter of hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malarial drug that's much in demand for potential use in helping treat patients of the novel coronavirus. Trump has presented the drug as a "game-changer" even though his health advisers have voiced uncertainty about its efficacy against novel coronavirus.

Trump, nevertheless, has been advocating the use of hydroxychloroquine for treating Covid-19 patients. During a White House press conference on Monday, Trump spoke about hydroxychloroquine and apparently threatened "retaliation" if India did not clear exports of the drug to the US.

Except, that's not what happened. Here's what took place:

Reporter: Thank you, sir, are you worried about (a) retaliation to your decision to ban (the) export of medical goods like Indian prime minister Modi's decision to not export hydroxychloroquine to (the) United States and other countries?

Trump: I don't like that decision if that's er... I don't... I didn't hear that that was his decision. I know that he stopped it for other countries. I spoke to him yesterday, we had a very good talk and we will see whether or not that's his ... I would be surprised if he would, you know because India's [sic] does very well with the United States. For many years, they have been taking advantage of the United States on trade so I would be surprised if that was his decision... He'd have to tell me that. I spoke to him Sunday morning, called him, and I said we appreciate your allowing our supply to come out... if he doesn't allow it to come out that would be okay but, of course, there may be retaliation, why wouldn't there be?

That, quoted verbatim, is Monday's actual exchange between a reporter and Donald Trump. You can watch the exchange here:

The first thing that's immediately clear is that Donald Trump was not making a unilateral statement threatening 'retaliation' against India. He was responding to a question.

And the question was whether HE was worried about retaliation to a decision HE took to ban exports of medical supplies from the US. The reporter who asked the question likened the situation to the Narendra Modi government's move last week to ban exports of hydroxychloroquine.

This made the US president respond in typical Donald Trump fashion. Initially, Trump did not even respond to the question and instead spoke about his phone conversation with PM Narendra Modi and about how India had "taken advantage" of trade concessions offered by the US.

It was only towards the very end that he said, "...if he [PM Modi] doesn't allow it to come out that would be okay but, of course, there may be retaliation, why wouldn't there be?" When read independently, the sentence does make it seem as though Donald Trump was threatening retaliation against India if it did not "allow it [hydroxychloroquine] to come out".

But when read in context of the question asked by the reporter, it is clear that Trump was actually and finally answering the question posed to him: Yes, he was saying, there might be retaliation to the US government's move to bar exports of medical supplies.

Donald Trump could have framed the answer better. Or he could have led with his last sentence before delving into his analysis of whether or not India was stopping supplies of hydroxychloroquine to the US. But, a threat? No, that did not happen.