Joe Biden will not give up. The US President will again use all his persuasive skills to win over India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the four-nation quad summit held later this month. So go signal. Traveling through South Korea and Japan, Biden will hope to persuade Modi to look at the US perspective on Russia. The leaders have met almost several times; This time, it will be an individual meeting and it is hoped that the ties between the two largest democracies will be strengthened and freed from New Delhi’s position on Russia. There is a growing recognition in Washington of India’s strategic autonomy in India’s geopolitical situation – driven primarily by neighborhood concerns and energy vulnerability. Our stand has not been outright condemned by American politicians; In fact, at a recent congressional hearing, Secretary of State Antony Blinken even acknowledged that there is a “growing strategic convergence” between India and the US that Washington was previously unable to activate. Parsing Blinken’s statements, in which he suggested that the US would replace Russia as India’s “partner of choice”, it appears that Biden may be trying to soften New Delhi’s current geopolitical situation with some temptations. will arrive with
There are indeed some areas of strategic convergence between the US and India. The first and obvious one, of course, is China. Both democracies have security concerns about Beijing’s power in the theater of Asia and have devoted a great deal of their energy to reducing this threat. Unfortunately, the two countries seem to have neglected another important aspect of mutual engagement: economic ties. So far neither India nor the US has entered into any major and meaningful trade deal in Asia. While former US President Donald Trump has embraced what is known as the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership, India missed the chance to join the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. Although China is a member of both. This is then the focus of the problem: China is not only a source of security concerns in the region, but also likely to cement its position as Asia’s major economic and trade superpower.
The White House will be hoping that despite Russia’s shadow, our shared concerns represent a pivotal moment in India-US relations, and Biden is likely to bring the gift. The beribon package on offer is likely to be the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), a symbol of the US’s renewed trade thrust in the region. This is in contrast to a general trade agreement – which includes the four pillars of fair and resilient trade, supply-chain longevity, infrastructure (including clean energy) and tax and anti-corruption measures. Impressed by Trump’s ability to portray earlier trade deals as ‘anti-labor’ and the court blue-collar vote, the IPEF keeps great stock by “fairness” on labor issues. This framework is not a ready-to-sign deal. This is likely to be a work-in-progress for some time, even though the completion target is 2023. The offer at this stage is more of a statement of intent than a list of general transaction points that characterize the business agreement. US More clarity will need to be offered on IPEF as it works with its partners across the region to make the deal enjoyable. With Europe re-tensioning in the Cold War and the rise of China is the big story of our times, this is an important geopolitical moment for the world and the glue of cooperation for mutual benefit has always been in economic partnership.