INDO--US TIES 🇮🇳🇺🇲

                      

 India's Historical Relations With The United States

United States the world's oldest democracy and India world's largest democracy are natural partners because both the nations run on certain similar principles .. Both the countries follow liberal principles whether it be in economic, political or social one .. In which people are free to practice any economic, political and social beliefs and the government has minimum control over it .. 

Indian society is called " Saled Bowl Model " which means people's first identity is Indian but they are also practicing their own religious and cultural beliefs .. American society is called " Melting Pot" society i.e. when America got independence various people from France, Britain, Portugal etc had abandoned their own religious and cultural identities and together gave birth to a new single identity with new American beliefs and ideals ..  

Although despite having similar thoughts, ideals and beliefs both the countries didn't had a very good historical relations with each other.. During the Cold War era ( 1945-1991), the world was polarised into two poles-- on the one hand the capitalist US and on the other the communist USSR .. Most of the countries were either inclined towards US or towards USSR .. But unlike these countries India and some other countries gave rise to a new third pole which was Non Aligned Movement ( NAM ) , which gave a clear stance that these NAM countries were neither towards US nor towards USSR .. But in the mean while , India's foe neighbor Pakistan was aligned with US .. In 1971 when India had already fought wars with Pakistan and China , got out from the principles of NAM and signed a " Peace and Friendship " treaty with the USSR .. Through this treaty Soviet Union started defence modernization and aided the armed forces of India by various means .. Meanwhile US and its allies called NAM as a team B of USSR and got to knew that India was inclined towards Soviet Union .. Also in Korean War and the invasion of US in Vietnam was strongly condemn by India and took a strong stance against it .. So India and US were on opposite ends ..

It's not that US and India were completely on opposite ends .. In 1949 Indian Prime Minister Pandit Nehru visited US and in 1963 US cooperated with India for Green Revolution to enhanced the food security and imported PL-480 wheat from it ..

However, in 1974 when India conducted its first nuclear test US imposed heavy sanctions on India and initiated a group called Nuclear Suppliers Group ( NSG) against India .. So the relationship got to worsen off ..

In the 1991 with the disintegration of USSR , the world from bipolar turned into a unipolar .. During this time , India started to liberalize and privatised the industries , so it wanted investment , technology transfer , market etc so it knew the importance of US in the global arena and thus it came out with policies like " Look East Policy " to improve the ties with eastern countries like ASEAN and the Americas ... In 1992 both India and US together started the Malabar Exercise ..

So, India wanted US in terms of of investment , technology etc and in return US also wanted India because India with a population of 1.3 Billion , US saw it as a big market and exported it's goods and items in colossal amount .. 

However the 9/11 attacks on the US which was carried out by some non state actors let to the realisation of threat from Terrorism which India was already fighting through proxy wars from Pakistan .. So it brought the two countries closer with a common objective to fight against Terror outfits .. 

So in a nutshell despite having bitterness in past relations both the countries went on a new path of cooperation because of growing mutual interest which gave it a boost to the growing Indo-US relations ...

                                           India's Ties in the Trump Era  

On November 8 , 2016 Donald J. Trump won the US Presidential election by defeating Hillary Clinton and took over the Oval Office in January 20, 2017.. However India didn't had a smooth ride with trump administration and moreover it was like a roller coaster one .. While the ties didn't went well in the economic sector but it improved in sectors such as defence , security cooperation ..

Trump had protectionist policies like ' Make America Great Again ' ( MAGA) , 'America First' Policy .. It was moreover to protect domestic industries against foreign competition which was against the concept of Globalisation .. After years of being POTUS , in 2008 Trump started a trade war with China by setting tariffs and other trade barriers with the goal of forcing it to make changes to what US said are unfair trade practices .. Trump raised import taxes on Chinese goods so that it was expensive in US domestic markets and people would buy American goods .. However the trade war had negatively impacted economies of both the countries ...In mid June-July , US China trade war intensified when US imposed fresh tariffs of about $34 billion on Chinese goods and in return China also imposed tariffs on US products and both nations blamed each other ...

Like China, India was no different in the eyes of Mr. Trump .. India had traded of almost 900 products with US through Generalized System of Preferences ( GSP) .. Through GSP any country could trade with US and gets a privilege to export goods duty free which means US would not impose import tax ... In 2019, US terminated India from the designated list of GSP .. On the other hand , Trump called India " Tariff King" mainly because of tax imposed by India on US corporations such as Harley Davidson .. Because of this , although it could access to Indian markets, it's products were over priced .. India did this to protect its own domestic corporations .. Since the average Indians couldn't afford theses Harley Davidson bikes , the company was not able to sell much of its products and therefore went into lost .. Recently it decided to close down its ventures in India , although later various news outlets published that it would collaborate with Hero Motorcorp .. India is one of the rare big economies which have a trade surplus with US .. Trade surplus had peaked to $ 21.2 billion in 2017-18 and trade surplus had plunged to $ 17.3 billion in 2019-20 , which shows Trump wanted to narrow down the trade surplus and wanted a balance trade with India .. 

During Trump's tenure no major trade deal was signed between US and India .. Recently , there was a proclamation from the External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar that " India was dead serious about concluding a trade deal with US but the Trump administration decided not to .." This shows the India held accountable to US for not having any breakthrough in trade deal.. 

All these lays out that there was a friction in ties with US when it comes to the economic sector.. But when it comes to sectors such as defence, security cooperation a lot has been achieved ...

In September 2019 Modi visited Houston for a grand event called " Howdy Modi" and in early next year in Feb 2020 Trump visited Gujarat for the gala "Nameste Trump" event .. Although didn't much was achieved by these two grand events but it showcased the world the incremental relations between the two nations ...

China is the rising superpower of the world .. It not only wants to challenge the US hegemony in the world but to replace with it .. So it's US permanent policy or fixed policy to contain China from rising .. On the other hand , China wants to remain a dominant figure in South Asia and wants to restrict India to becoming another one .. That's where US and India's interest converge .. When it comes to China threat both US and India are one of world's best allies ..The China Virus which reported it's first case in Wuhan caused a havoc in the world .. US was worst affected in the world with both highest number of cases and deaths .. The worst standoffs ever occurred between Sino-Indo troops in which 20 Indian soldiers were martyred and an unknown number of Chinese troops were killed .. So both US and India had to suffer cause of China .. In President Trump's end years US had become too anti China and had taken a no. of steps to hurt China diplomatically , as US can't use military against China because both are nuclear armed countries and have huge forces .. During Trump's tenure Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QUAD) an informal group between US, India , Japan and Australia was revitalised .. QUAD was a geostrategic policy of US and wanted to convert in into a military alliance Keep Chinese threats in mind .. On the other hand , in 2018 trump administration changed the US Pacific Command (PACOM) into the US-Indo Pacific Command, this indicated that India matters in America's geo strategic planning .. It's an American move to include India to counter balance China in Indo-Pacific region .. US along with India strongly supports free and open Indo-Pacific .. US reiterates that freedom of navigation and international laws like United Nations Laws of Convention of Seas ( UNLOCS) should be followed...

Through China's Belt and Road initiative , China provides bountiful soft loans to minor developing countries and build various infra projects .. The projects proves to be of not that much of utility .. The countries couldn't earn revenues from these projects and can't repay the colossal amount of money back to China .. It's China's dirty tactics through which countries fall under its debt trap.. The Hambanthota Port in Sri Lanka went for lease to China for 99 years ..It epitomises China using its notorious tricks to deceive countries .. So in order to counter this , US led along with Japan and Australia gave to rise a new initiative called 'Blue Dot Network" ..

Blue dot Network was to serve as a globally recognised evaluation and certification system for roads, ports and bridges.. US led countries invited India to be a part of this global initiative .. India's response to this call remains to be seen ..

US declared India a major defence partner .. As US signs 4 foundational agreements with its major defence partners ..The signing of 4 foundational agreements namely General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA, which was signed in 2002), Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA, was signed in 2016), Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement ( COMCASA, which was signed in 2018), Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA, which was signed in Oct. 2020) was completed in President Trump's tenure .. 

In Obama's era, US signed a Nuclear deal formally known as the "Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action "with Iran which said Iran would leave the ambition of becoming a nuclear armed state for a certain period of years and in return US would lift sanctions on Iran .. India was a very big beneficiary from this deal as India would buy oil from Iran and build projects such as Chabahar ...

But when Trump took over the White House , US withdrew from this deal and adopted a maximum pressure policy on Iran .. Vis a Vis US heavily sanctioned Iran .. So it became difficult for India to buy oil and build infra projects because through Countering America's Adversaries through Sanction Act ( CAATSA) , any third country which trades with Iran would fall under this act and US would also sanction that particular country .. So India stopped purchasing of oil and put a halt in building Chabahar projects in Iran ... So, this action by US took a toll on India's relations with Iran ...

India and US are brothers in the east and step brothers in the west ... It means in the eastern sides both countries have a strong cooperation like QUAD, Indo-Pacific strategy etc but when in comes to Western Side , India and US both have contradictory interests .. Trump wants India to send military in Afghanistan but India gave a clear stance that it would send doctors, teachers, engineers etc but not military ..

India wants Afghanistan Peace process to be AFGHAN LED, AFGHAN OWN and AFGHAN CONTROLLED .. This indicates that India sees Afghan government as a main key player and does not recognise Taliban... Whereas US recognizes Taliban and in Trump's tenure US is withdrawing troops in Afghanistan .. After the American troops withdraw , Taliban would capture power in Afghanistan and would train Al Queda and other Terror outfits with the cooperation of Pakistan and ISI and would send it to Kashmir .. So cause of Trump's vested interests India would face serious security concerns ...

Thus , in President Donald Trump's tenure India got benefited in some sectors whereas in some other sectors it got negatively impacted ...

                                          India Under Biden's administration

Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. better known as Joe Biden defeated the incumbent President Donald Trump on November 3 Presidential election and became the 46th President of the United States of America..  Before becoming the President-elect of US, Biden served as Vice President during the Obama era from 2009 to 2017.. Joe Biden's policies would be somewhat different from Donald Trump whether it would be with India or in International arena ...

The geopolitical scenario of the world would change with Biden taking over the Oval Office .. Unlike Trump, where he was tough on China, president-elect Biden would be harsh on Russia .. According to various news outlets, Biden vowed to impose " costs" for Russian aggression when he becomes president .. There are multiple reasons for which Biden considers Russia a foe of US .. Biden believes that Russia meddled in 2016 US presidential election and it for their anti-democrats propaganda on various social media that led to the loss of the then democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton .. Recently, US federal agencies like the Department of Treasury went through a cyber attack and several US officials hold Russia accountable for it .. Apart from these , there are multiple other reasons for which democrats as usual would be tough on Russia ....

When it comes to US's natural ally India, under Biden administration there are some sectors which would make the most of it whereas others won't .. Biden vowed that after days of assuming the presidency , US would rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement ( which was left in Trump's tenure) and would provide aid to countries like India to shift from non renewable to renewable energy...

A lot of Indian diaspora in US which works in various IT firms on H1B Vivas would get benefits under Biden's administration , where Trump put several restrictions on it .. Biden would favour immigration and would promote policies to usher it .. 

Joe Biden is from Democratic Party , which runs on the liberal values .. So, Biden would raise voice against human rights violation , disparities among communities on the grounds of religion etc happening or appear to happen anywhere in the world .. It is so as to appease the liberal people both in and outside the US.. According to sources from US, Biden had been disappointed by the the measures India had taken with the implementation and aftermath of NRC in Assam and the passage of CAA into law and seeks restoration of people's rights in Kashmir .. Biden's all theses stances and raising voice in India's internal issues would take a slight toll in the INDO-US ties.. But Biden also knows that going that going too against the internal issues of India could hurt the relation and also would result in no change in the ground level... 

In Trump's tenure whereas India's GSP status got terminated , India expects it would come up on table for reconsideration under Biden's administration.. It's Biden's call whether he would allow India to regain the GSP status or would remain India out of it ...

Like president Trump where QUAD was revitalised and got a new life..    Under Biden , QUAD would not remain in his top list of priority.. Because as QUAD focuses on Indo-Pacific and in countering China and reducing its dominance , so Biden would not promote it , as he is not too anti-china..    He would remain soft on China , as he was been in his Vice President's tenure.. He would not take any stern action against China .. Although there was a proclamation from Biden that he would make China obey International Laws but it doesn't seem that China is ready to do so...

On the other hand, Pakistan may expect a financial aid from US to fight against Terror outfits , as it was given during Obama's tenure and it was halted under Trump .. It would be not good for India , as Pakistan would  use that financial aid to train militants , giving sophisticated weapons and would them to Kashmir....

On the other hand, Biden would reconsider to bring Iran into the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or the Iran Nuclear Deal .. Under this deal, US would remove sanctions on Iran and in return Iran would abandon it's ambition of being a nuclear power state .. It would be very beneficial for India as it would be free to buy oil from Iran at a very cheap rate and can continue its construction work in building infra projects like the Chabahar ...

To sum up, under Biden's administration there would be a change to some extent in the INDO-US ties but the mutual interest and partnership between the two nations  is in the fixed issues or in the permanent issues  and would continue as did in the Trump's regime...