The U.S. Should Look to India as a Key Partner in Countering China
In February, President Donald Trump hosted Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Washington, D.C., wherein the two leaders reaffirmed ties between the United States and India in addition to announcing the launch of a new initiative – the “U.S.-India COMPACT (Catalyzing Opportunities for Military Partnership, Accelerated Commerce & Technology) for the 21st Century.” The wide-ranging initiative aims to increase cooperation between the two nations on defense, trade, energy, technology, and multilateral relations in the Indo-Pacific region.
On its face, the U.S.-India COMPACT has the potential to jumpstart a new period of mutually rewarding collaboration. The greater promise, however, is in deepening ties with a regional partner to help curb Chinese Communist Party (CCP) expansionism and influence. Here’s how.
Mutually Beneficial Trade with India Can Form the Basis of a Lasting Partnership to Combat the Influence of China
One of the key features of the U.S.-India COMPACT is “Mission 500” – a goal to increase bilateral trade between the United States and India to $500 billion by 2030, a substantial increase from the roughly $130 billion trade in goods between the two countries in 2024. Interestingly, unspoken within the announcement of the Mission 500 goal is that ramping up trade to that scale would place India within ballpark range of the roughly $580 billion annual trade in goods the United States currently has with China.
Underlying the new agreement is the recognition that “this level of ambition would require new, fair-trade terms,” as explained in the United States-India Joint Leaders’ Statement. President Trump has repeatedly urged India to lower trade barriers to U.S. businesses, and to that end both countries have announced plans to negotiate the first tranche of a bilateral trade agreement by this fall.
If the U.S. and India successfully negotiate a new bilateral trade agreement and greatly increase trade between the two countries, the United States would become less reliant on an adversarial China for trade and India could capitalize on shifting businesses and manufacturing away from China. For the U.S., that would mean less sensitivity to critical supply chains being at risk of interruption as the CCP wields its influence for political gain.
The U.S.-India COMPACT Lays the Groundwork for a Greater Realignment Away from China
Beyond trade, the U.S.-India COMPACT also includes a number of other key pillars across which the two nations would increase their ties and cooperation. These include:
Defense: the two countries will sign a new ten-year “Framework for the U.S.-India Major Defense Partnership in the 21st Century,” increase military cooperation, and the U.S. has offered to sell India F-35 aircraft.
Energy: the U.S. will back India joining the International Energy Agency as a full member, the U.S. will increase sales of crude oil, petroleum products, and liquified natural gas to India, and the two countries will cooperate on building U.S.-designed nuclear reactors in India.
Technology: the two countries will collaborate on critical and emerging technologies across government, academia, and the private sector, including a specific focus on establishing “large-scale U.S.-origin AI infrastructure in India.” The U.S. and India will also cooperate on building resilient supply chains for semiconductors, rare earth minerals, advanced materials, and pharmaceuticals.
Multilateral Relations: the two nations reaffirmed their belief that a close U.S.-India partnership is critical to the Indo-Pacific region, planned to announce new initiatives on increasing collaboration with partners in the Middle East, announced an intention to build “plurilateral anchor partnerships in the Western Indian Ocean, Middle East, and Indo-Pacific,” and reaffirmed their commitment to fighting terrorism.
Across all pillars, this agreement with India offers the potential to chip away at China’s influence and build a partnership that allows both nations to become less dependent on the Chinese Communist Party.
The U.S. Should Work at All Levels to Counter the Threat of the CCP
The U.S.-India Compact offers great promise in advancing a relationship with a key regional partner with an eye on neutralizing the biggest pain points that the CCP employs as leverage over the United States, and President Trump has a prime opportunity to develop this strategic partnership. However, we must continue to employ every lever possible at all levels of government to effectively counter the threat posed by the CCP. State governments have made great strides in enacting legislative proposals proposed by the Protecting America Initiative (PAI), and Congress should also redouble its focus on moving stalled legislation. PAI will continue to advocate for commonsense solutions that will make this country safer.