Shift in India-US ties as ‘multipolar’ world order dawns

The downturn in India-US relations has upset both the Indian strategic elite and a section of American foreign policy thinkers. They argue that two decades of efforts to improve India-US ties has been undercut by US President Donald Trump with his declaration of economic war on India.

Punitive tariffs have been accompanied by a deluge of insults on India as being a “dead economy”. Trump’s Trade Councillor Peter Navarro alleged India is playing a “double game”, the Russia-Ukraine war is “Modi’s war”, India cheats the US on trade, and so on.

India, on its part, has signalled that it is committed to strategic autonomy, will continue to purchase Russian oil, diversify its trade and security relations with others, and improve relations with China. However, India has also committed itself to continuing negotiations with the US to decrease trade tariffs.

The opportunity for India to show its foreign policy options has come faster than the world expected.

The meeting between China’s President Xi Jinping, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin during the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit (Tianjin, China, August 31 to September 1) showcased a power projection and shift that reflected a “Pivot to Asia” but from the region itself and minus America’s presence.

The bilateral meeting between Xi and Modi on the side-lines of the SCO confirms...

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