US Vice President J. D. Vance’s visit to India on April 21-24 was aimed at strengthening the two countries’ ties against the background of Trump’s tariff wars with many countries around the globe and the open political and economic confrontation with his main enemy, China.
Expanding cooperation
The distinguished American visitor continued his boss’ line of strengthening strategic partnership with the powerful country, which rightfully claims to be one of the main international players. At the same time, the Americans, masterfully conducting dialogue with India, are taking into account the Russian and Chinese factors, aiming to displace Moscow’s significant positions in the country and to use the well-known confrontation between New Delhi and Beijing in their own, primarily economic, interests. The hosts were very impressed by the Indian origin of the US Vice President’s wife, Usha, whose parents are from Andhra Pradesh, and the Vance family’s undisguised sympathy for India. The respect shown by the vice president for the religious, spiritual and cultural traditions of India also added to the positive air of the visit.
During the meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, J. D Vance, in his usual and straightforward manner, presented his roadmap and outlined the two parties’ main priorities to give a new fresh impetus to the ‘comprehensive strategic global partnership’ between them. The aim is to expand bilateral trade and cooperation in the spheres of economy, technology, military and defence.
A key topic discussed during the talks was the trade relations between the two countries, considering Trump’s tough tariff policy. The rate for Indian goods was 26%, while the tariff on US goods imported by India exceeded 50%. Despite Washington’s unhappiness with such a disparity, it agreed to reduce tariffs on India to 10% during the 90-day pause, having taken into account New Delhi’s willingness to engage in dialogue and reach a compromise. At the same time, 26% tariffs continue to apply to imports of steel, aluminium and products from India. To the satisfaction of New Delhi, key pharmaceutical products in Indian exports were exempt from the new tariffs.
New trade opportunities
Over the past five years, the United States has remained India’s largest trade partner. It is noteworthy, however, that India ranks only 10th in the American list of trade partners. At the beginning of 2025, the bilateral trade turnover exceeded $130 billion; the trade surplus in favour of India was almost $46 billion, which Washington dislikes, resulting in excessive tariffs on India. Given this imbalance in mutual trade and US pressure, New Delhi has reduced tariffs on a number of imported goods and abolished them on LNG imported from the United States. Washington does not hide its satisfaction with such concessions from India and has set its sights on significantly increasing energy (primarily oil and gas) supplies to the country in the hope of squeezing Russia’s recently strengthened position in the Indian market (Russia has become the main exporter of oil to India worth more than $50 billion).
During the talks in New Delhi, Vance stressed the need to bring bilateral trade turnover to $500 billion by 2030, which, judging by the high growth rates of mutual trade, is certainly realistic. The parties have also made progress in agreeing on a new bilateral basic trade agreement. It seems that India, which was one of the few countries that did not get involved in a tariff war with the US, may become one of the main beneficiaries of Donald Trump’s global trade policy. Given the escalated tariff conflict between the United States and China, New Delhi expects to replace Beijing, primarily in terms of supplying electronics and high-tech products to the United States and attracting American companies to joint production. New Delhi also hopes to increase traditional exports, such as pharmaceuticals, knitwear, textiles, jewellery and precious stones. In short, new trade opportunities are opening up for the two countries and they will not fail to take advantage of them, as the American guest emphasised in his public speeches in India.
It should be noted that, during the talks in New Delhi, Vance also succeeded in expanding bilateral military, technical and defence cooperation. India’s intention to purchase military goods from the United States and establish joint production of anti-tank missiles and combat vehicles was confirmed. The Americans are also pressuring India to purchase modern fighter jets from them instead of Russia.
Will the US be able to pull India away from Russia and to the West?
It is clear that one of the objectives of the US Vice President’s visit was to win over India in geopolitical and trade terms, including to the detriment of Russia’s position in the country and taking into account the confrontation between New Delhi and Beijing. Washington’s stepped up efforts to expand the supply of energy resources and military and technical products to India, which affects Russian interests, are no accident.
India is pursuing a balanced and multi-vector foreign policy line, developing ties with both the West and Russia. With extensive experience in conducting foreign policy and despite all the attractive moments of rapprochement with the United States and the European Union, the Indian leadership understands the importance in its national interests of continuing the particularly privileged strategic partnership with Russia, which has withstood the test of time. It seems that India, despite all the efforts of the West, will not abandon this idea.
Anvar Azimov, Diplomat and Political Analyst, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Candidate of Historical Sciences, Senior Researcher, Eurasian Studies Institute MGIMO, Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
