As President-Elect Biden seeks to restore “normalcy” in America’s relationships with its closest allies, the administration will face a tumultuous world in which a pandemic still continues to upend lives and economic activity, fractured relationships with global institutions, and a rising China taking advantage of the chaos to gain more power and influence. Amidst these challenges facing the President-elect, the US-India relationship will constitute a bright spot. Regardless of other global issues, the US-India relationship has maintained an even keel and the list of achievements range from a robust strategic partnership designating India as a “Major Defense Partner” to various pacts that facilitate information-sharing between the security, military, and intelligence agencies of the two countries. Additionally, a growing strategic energy partnership underlines India’s position as a strong partner in the Indo-Pacific region. We expect these areas of collaboration to continue and even get stronger in the next couple of years.
While the complementarity in the interests of the two nations have guided the relationship and the fundamentals are strong, there are some immediate opportunities to ramp up cooperation in 2021.
First, on the trade front, it would be beneficial to restore India’s GSP benefits and get a preferential trade agreement across the finish line. The two sides have had persistent disagreements in areas such as intellectual property protection, worker mobility, and digital trade, but trade and investments have increased from $25 billion in 2006 to over $149 billion in 2020. Indian procurement of American defence products too has increased from $0 to over $18 billion and counting in the last decade and a half. And we are only beginning to scratch the surface. India for its part, will have to unfailingly build on transparency and consistency in its policy and regulatory framework to attract long-term investment.
Kommentare