Trump administration prioritising relations with India, says former White House official

The Donald Trump administration is prioritising relations with India and recognises that the country has the potential to transform the IndoPacific region and is an important partner when it comes to competing effectively with China a former White House official has saidThese remarks were made by Lisa Curtis ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modis visit to the White House for a bilateral meeting with President Trump on ThursdayShe has served in President Donald Trumps first administration as the senior director for South and Central Asia in the National Security Council between 2017 and 2021In an online press briefing on Tuesday hosted by Washington DCbased think tank The Centre for a New American Security CNAS on the eve of Modis visit Curtis saidClearly the Trump administration is prioritising relations with IndiaThey recognise that India is an important emerging global power and really has the potential to transform the IndoPacific region and the world Curtis Senior Fellow and Director of the IndoPacific Security Programme at the think tank saidModi will be the fourth foreign leader to visit Trump in the weeks after the American leaders inauguration as the 47th President of the USWithin less than a month of the start of Trumps second term in the White House he has hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and Jordans King Abdullah IICurtis added that it is quite notable that India is being given such close attention with everything that is happening domestically here under the new Trump administrationAnd of course the Indian government has also done its groundwork and has already taken positive steps to set a tone a good tone for Thursdays meeting she saidShe also said the Quad is something very important to the Trump administrationWeve already seen a meeting of the Quad foreign ministers literally on the first day of the Trump administration So that shows the importance that the Trump administration attaches to India and its role in the Quad she saidOn January 21 a day after Trumps inauguration External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had a bilateral and Quad meeting Rubio met Jaishankar as well as other foreign ministers of the Quad grouping Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Japanese Foreign Minister Iwaya Takeshi at the State Department on January 21 the first Quad ministerial meeting of the Trump administrations second termSo thats something that draws them together the idea of the US and India working together to preserve a free and open IndoPacific to make sure that other countries have choices beyond China to reduce dependencies on China to diversify supply chains All of this is important to both countries and this is where their interests converge So I expect that will be some of the glue that brings the US and India together despite this trade friction she saidWith the TrumpModi meeting coming against the backdrop of the Trump administrations announcements and focus on trade and tariffs Curtis said it will be necessary for the two leaders to try to reach a trade dealBut if we look back at the first Trump administration despite a great deal of effort they never did conclude a trade agreement Still the trade friction did not overwhelm the overall strategic partnership And by the time Trump left office I think he had left the USIndia relationship in a very good place she saidCurtis however added that this time around were going to see less patience from President Trump on the trade issues the expectations will be higher of India to make concessions to lower tariffs And so weve yet to see whether India will be able to do thatAnd I think you know this means that the trade issue could be more of an irritant this time around than it was during the first Trump administrationIn response to a question on whether Trump is looking to draw India more closely to the US to counter Chinas growing influence in the IndoPacific Curtis said that even though much of the talk will be on the bilateral relationship trade immigration defence purchases the China thread will weave through the meetingThis is an underpinning theme to this meeting she said adding that Trumps advisors are very clear that India is an important partner when it comes to competing effectively with China and pushing back against Chinese aggressionSo I think that will be an underlying themeWell have to see what the joint statement says Its unlikely to mention China specifically but that will be the underlying theme of their strategic cooperation in the IndoPacific whether it is on technology maritime security issues or defence relationshipsThe USIndia relationship when it comes to defence is very important for India in terms of dealing with the threat from China along their disputed border And we saw that in 2020 when you had an IndiaChina border crisis and the US really stepped up its intelligence support provided military gear and provided a great deal of diplomatic support to India during that time of crisis she saidAhead of the visit Head Americas VFS Global Amit Kumar Sharma said that the USIndia relationship is poised for unprecedented growth with increased travel expected across business trade leisure and spiritual sectorsBusinesses are eager to partner driven by a shared ambition for sustainable growth This is the outcome of consistent strategic engagement at the highest levels of government and industry he saidHe further said that Modis visit is a highly anticipated milestone in these joint efforts by businesses organizations and governments alike Looking ahead we can anticipate an even more dynamic USIndia corridor in 2025 and beyondThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove 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