“Partnership between the US and India to counter China should not be an afterthought” and the Trump administration should not isolate India. Former US ambassador Nikki Haley warned, know what else she said?
Former US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley on Friday stressed the importance of India-US ties, warning the Trump administration that isolating India at a time of growing Chinese aggression would be a “strategic disaster”. Her remarks came after President Donald Trump’s decision to impose a 50% tariff on Indian goods, straining bilateral trade ties. In an article co-written with Bill Drexel of the Hudson Institute, Haley argued that “a partnership between the US and India to counter China should not be a foregone conclusion.”
India and China are not good neighbors
Nikki Haley wrote, “A partnership between the US and India to counter China should not be an afterthought. India and China are neighbors with conflicting economic interests and have long-standing territorial disputes, including a deadly clash along disputed borders as recently as 2020. Unlike Communist China, India poses no threat to any country in the world. Helping India stand up to China now would serve US interests.”
Referring to India-US relations
Haley cited history to underscore the depth of the India-US relationship, saying at a state dinner hosted by President Ronald Reagan in 1982 in honour of Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, Reagan celebrated the friendship of “two proud, free peoples”. The relationship has now reached a “worrisome turning point. India must be treated as a valued independent and democratic partner, not an adversary like China, which has so far avoided sanctions because of its oil purchases from Russia.”
