New Delhi understands the stakes of India-US relationship, says expert

Ashley Tellis, a Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and leading expert on India-US ties, has praised India's reaction to recent bilateral tensions, saying that New Delhi understood the "stakes in the relationship with the United States".
 

In an interview with Milan Vaishnav, senior fellow and director of the South Asia Program and the host of the "Grand Tamasha" podcast at the Carnegie Endowment on Wednesday, Tellis believed that India was not "willing to leave anything to chance" as ties with Washington soured.

"The Indian government understands fully well the stakes in the relationship with the United States, and they were not willing to leave anything to chance. And so even though there was a national chorus of disapproval of both President Trump, personally and the United States more generally, the Indian government did nothing to bait that sentiment. I see that as part of a very calculated nature of the Indian reaction," he added.

Tellis, who previously served as Senior Advisor to the Ambassador at the US Embassy in New Delhi and Special Assistant to President George W. Bush, hoped that trade and other issues could be resolved in the "weeks to come".

"They (India) have kept open lines of communication with the administration, and they have engaged in a dialogue very respectfully, with the objective of trying to solve the problems. So, whether it's a matter of Russian oil or whether it's a matter of trade, India has been nothing but responsible, and so they are making an effort. I'm hoping that in the weeks to come we will actually see the early fruit of that effort," he noted.

Tellis said that India's offers on trade and energy are already "a win" for US President Donald Trump and should be "gracious enough" to accept it.

"You just hope that wiser counsels prevail, and that the President sees the value in accepting a win, because it is a win. It is a win for him. The fact that India has moved so far on issues like it has never done before, to my mind, is a win for President Trump, and he should pocket it at some point. Be gracious enough to accept it," he advised.

On Monday, India's Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal met US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer in New York to negotiate the first tranche of a trade agreement between the two sides.

Sources told IANS that the meeting focused on addressing key sticking points, and both sides remain hopeful of reaching an interim understanding soon.

The trade talks come days after US Assistant Trade Representative for South and Central Asia, Brendan Lynch, held discussions with India's chief trade negotiator Rajesh Agrawal in Delhi.

Union Minister Piyush Goyal, on Tuesday, spoke about the "scope to expand India-US energy trade" and collaboration on nuclear power as an affordable clean energy option, and promoting start-ups in renewables.

US Energy Secretary Chris Wright on Wednesday also hailed New Delhi an "awesome ally" and said he is a "huge fan of India", while calling for deeper energy cooperation between the two countries.

"A lot of my early time when I arrived in my position, was dealing with India, the world's largest democracy, an awesome ally of the United States, a fast growing economy, a truly dynamic society that has rapidly growing energy demand because people are increasing their prosperity, their opportunities. I'm a huge fan of India. We love India," he added.

Picture Courtesy: IANS