Rupture in the India-U.S. Relationship: An Indian Perspective

In recent months, India-United States relations have experienced considerable strain. The U.S. President has imposed reciprocal tariffs as well as additional tariffs on India for its Russian oil imports. These abrupt actions have disrupted a bilateral partnership that, over nearly two decades, had grown into one of the world’s most consequential, built on convergences in economic, defense, and technological cooperation as well as shared interests in maintaining a favorable balance of power in the Indo-Pacific region. However, in President Trump’s second term, longstanding areas of divergence have intensified, testing the resilience of the partnership. Yet, at an institutional level, both foreign policy establishments appear to be committed to overcoming the breach. This paper critically evaluates the emerging cleavages, and assesses the inherent strategic value each partner brings to the bilateral. It also considers potential recalibrations, grounded in the capacity of two mature democracies to navigate the differences in strategic perception and sustain long-term cooperation.