In the fourth of the Strat Talks series, Arun Singh, former Ambassador to the US, points to the Trump administration broadly continuing with the Biden administration’s India policy despite walking away from a lot else.
“If you look a the signalling, the Indian prime minister was the fourth foreign leader invited to the White House in February … and the Indian foreign minister was among the Quad foreign ministers invited to the inauguration of the president.”
Arun Singh laid out what in his view, were the other high points of the India-US relationship under Trump.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s first multilateral meeting was with the Quad members, followed by the first bilateral with India’s Jaishankar. The joint statement with Prime Minister Modi was also framed as the US-India Compact for the 21st century, catalysing opportunities for a military partnership, also in commerce and technology.
While restricting technology access to many countries including China, the Americans believe “We should partner with India in critical and emerging technologies, artificial intelligence, quantum, cyber, space defence.”
And although Trump has described India as “Tariff King”, for its high tariffs on American goods, it is also true that he wants trade to go up to $500 billion and a bilateral trade agreement is being negotiated.
The US sees its main challenge as China, Arun Singh said. They see China as the only country with the intent and capability to replace the US in the international system. To deal with China they need India.
“Twenty per cent of the global talent in semiconductor design is in India,” Singh underscored, “you have 1800 global capability centres in India doing cutting edge R&D and technology development for US multinationals. For many US companies, the largest US presence outside the US is India.”
The India partnership is valuable for the US to maintain its global leadership and a strong India, even if it is not overtly anti-China, will be a strong restraint on China’s unilateral and assertive positions.
Tune in for more in this Strat Talks with Arun Singh, former Ambassador to the US.
