In some hours from now, US Vice-President JD Vance, his wife Usha and three children will be in Delhi. Sources told StratNewsGlobal that this is essentially a private visit, but the minds in Washington and Delhi saw merit in giving it an official twist.
The three-month old Trump administration has done much to upend the global international order and bring uncertainty and instability in bilateral relations.
In that sense, Vance with his obvious “India connect” would lend strength to the view of the two sides seeking to continue high level political contacts after Prime Minister Modi’s visit to the White House in February.
That visit produced an omnibus joint statement, 36 paragraphs laying out the road map for the bilateral relationship, touching on every aspect, from defence to high tech and innovation, energy to trade and investment.
The last could be on the radar of both Modi and Vance, given that the two countries are in the middle of negotiations for a bilateral trade agreement (BTA) to be done in two phases, the first to be completed by Sept-Oct this year.
The two leaders may also look at an “early tranche” during the “90-day tariff pause window” Trump announced last week. This could cover greater market access for a limited number of goods and cutting down non-tariff barriers. It could protect India’s exports to the US from potential tariffs.
But it maybe too much to expect a breakthrough at this Modi-Vance meeting. Recall India’s Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal was in Washington in the first week of March for talks with his two key interlocutors: Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
Later that month Brendan Lynch, US Assistant Trade Representative was in Delhi for talks and it was decided to hold sectoral level engagements in the coming weeks. Now an Indian team is in the US to take those deliberations forward.
A senior former diplomat who served in the US told SNG that Vance’s trip also hints at gaps in Trump’s administration. He is yet to fill several senior and middle level positions in various ministries and Elon Musk’s purge of government employees may have deprived this administration of talent and experience.
Vance’s visit therefore must be seen in the proper context. The “official” leg of his visit ends on Monday hours after his arrival. His dinner with Modi includes family and the conversation therefore, cannot be heavy on anything official.
As for the menu, Vance a self-confessed “meat and potatoes kind of guy” has had enough time in his decade old marriage to Usha, to get accustomed to vegetarian fare. Modi’s “pure veg”, and if a lot can happen over coffee, surely much more than that can happen over veggies. Low calorie, high energy! But as they say, the truth of the pudding lies in the eating.
