- Partnership between the US and India is crucial to counter China economically and militarily
- Trade disputes between the US and India risk giving China an opportunity to exploit their differences
- The US should prioritise mending ties with India and match attention given to China or Israel
Calling the partnership between India and the US a "no-brainer" to counter China, Donald Trump's Republican colleague, Nimarata Nikki Randhawa Haley, said it would be a "massive mistake" on Washington's part to let the trade spat with New Delhi escalate into "an enduring rupture." In a Newsweek op-ed published Wednesday, she warned that any crack in the India-US ties will give an opportunity to the Chinese Communist Party to play New Delhi and Washington against one another.
The former US Ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, said America's top priority should be to get India-US ties back on track, as she called for a direct meeting between US President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
"Partnership between the US and India to counter China should be a no-brainer...It would serve America's interests to help India stand up to its increasingly aggressive northern neighbour, both economically and militarily," she said.
"...It would be a massive-and preventable-mistake to balloon a trade spat between the United States and India into an enduring rupture. If that were to happen, the Chinese Communist Party would be quick to play India and the United States against one another," Haley added.
She also urged India to take Trump's point over Russian oil seriously and work with the White House to find a solution. The Trump administration has slapped India with 25 per cent tariffs for purchasing Russian oil, on top of the 25 per cent duty already imposed on the import of Indian goods.
She said that on its part, the US should focus on mending the rift with India and giving the relationship more high-level attention and resources, "approaching what the US devotes to China or Israel."
"...The most urgent priority should be to reverse the downward spiral, which will require direct talks between President Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The sooner the better," Haley wrote.
The former US ambassador cautioned Washington not to lose sight of what matters most-- India and America's shared goal of countering China's increasing global influence.
"Decades of friendship and goodwill between the world's two largest democracies provide a solid basis to move past the current turbulence. Navigating challenging issues like trade disagreements and Russian oil imports demand hard dialogue, but difficult conversations are often the sign of a deepening partnership... To face China, the United States must have a friend in India," she added.
She had run in the Republican Party presidential primaries against Donald Trump in 2024 and came in second. Later, she endorsed Trump for the 2024 presidential run, but remained a vocal critic of his policies in his second term.
