Donald Trump Inauguration: India is expecting an early visit into the country by the incoming President of the United States, Donald Trump — who will be sworn-in as the 47th President on Monday — for the next round of Quad Summit, even as India is expecting a massive push on bilateral trade that will seek to impose tariffs on Indian goods, ABP Live has learnt.
When it comes to the strategic aspect of the India-US relationship, some of areas that may see greater cooperation will be a sharper focus on Quad and enhancement of ties in the Indo-Pacific strategic construct.
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, who will be attending Trump’s swearing-in ceremony, recently said at an event: “Today, we may well be on the cusp of a new era. One where the United States departs from an established tradition of foreign policy and focuses on its own interests, rather than in shaping the world itself.”
One of the main objectives of Jaishankar, who will also be attending the Quad Foreign Ministers’ Meeting on January 21 in Washington DC, is to pave the way for an “early visit” by Trump to India to attend the next round of Quad Summit, highly placed sources told Media
The Quad, which was revived in 2017 under Trump, saw a continuation by Biden. The last round was held in the US in September 2024. Under Trump’s second tenure, India is likely to be pushed to take a sharper focus against China, something that New Delhi has avoided for long in an effort to not to upset Beijing.
“Quad and Indo-Pacific will get more focus under the new Trump administration and we expect improvement in those areas…The Quad gives these countries (US, India, Australia and Japan) a cover and they can talk about those issues about China more openly here than they can otherwise in a bilateral set-up,” Mohan Kumar, Professor of Diplomatic Practice at Jindal School of International Affairs, O.P. Jindal Global University
According to the sources quoted above, despite a major push by the outgoing Joe Biden administration to prioritise technology transfer with India under the Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET), which came to existence in January 2023, Trump is unlikely to take it forward.
"The fundamental premise of iCET is that, in an era of renewed geopolitical competition, the United States and India must collaborate on the development, diffusion, and protection of critical technologies—from artificial intelligence to biotechnology, and beyond. That is our responsibility as the world’s largest democracies. As two of the fastest-growing and largest economies. And as leading Indo-Pacific powers,” said Jake Sullivan, the outgoing US National Security Advisor, during this recent visit to India earlier this month.
The main objective under iCET was to develop greater cooperation between both countries in defence by way of technology transfer. This was designed by the US to wean India away from Russian defence platforms.
“Sustaining the moment on iCET will be difficult. It is doubtful whether Trump wants to give it the same kind of importance as the Biden government did,” added Kumar.
Kumar also said the Trump administration will get exhausted in dealing with three bigger issues concerning China, the ongoing Russia-Ukraine War and the Middle East
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