DR.

RAM MAHOHAR LOHIYA NATIONAL

LAW UNIVERSITY

2021-2022

SUBJECT: POLITICAL SCIENCE-III

FINAL DRAFT

India-United States Relations

SUBMITTED BY: SUBMITTED TO:

Kareena Budiyal Dr. Monika Srivastava
Enrollment No. 200101079 Assistant Professor (Pol. Science)
B.A. LL.B. (HONS.) Dr. Ram Manohar Lohiya
SEMESTER III National Law University
Section ‘A’ Lucknow

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I have taken a lot of efforts for this project. However, this would have not been possible without

the kind support and help of many individuals. I would like to express my sincere thanks to all

of them.

I express my gratitude and deep regards to my teacher Dr. Monika Srivastava for giving me

her exemplary guidance, monitoring and constant encouragement throughout the course of this

project.

I would like to express my gratitude towards my parents and members of RMLNLU for their

kind support and encouragement which helped me in the completion of this project.

My thanks and appreciations also go to my colleague in developing the project and people who

willingly helped me out with their abilities.

Kareena Budiyal

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

❖ Introduction……………………………………………………………………..4

❖ Economic Relations……………………………………………………………..5

❖ India-United States Strategic Partnership……………………………………….6

❖ Impact of India’s Neighbour on India-US Relations……………………………7

❖ Diplomacy and Global Cooperation…………………………………………….8-9

❖ India and Biden administration………………………………………………….9-10

❖ Way Forward for India-US Bilateral Relations………………………………….10-11

❖ Conclusion………………………………………………………………………..11

❖ References……………………………………………………………...................11

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 INTRODUCTION

The India-United States partnership is founded on a shared commitment to freedom,

democratic principles, equal treatment of all citizens, human rights, and the rule of law. India
and United States have shared interests in promoting global security, stability, and economic
prosperity through trade, investment, and connectivity. The United States supports India’s
emergence as a leading global power and vital partner in efforts to ensure that the Indo-Pacific
is a region of peace, stability, and growing prosperity. The strong people-to-people ties between
our countries, reflected in a four million-strong Indian American diaspora, are a tremendous
source of strength for the partnership. While their shared democratic nature has not been the
only driver, it has certainly contributed directly and indirectly to the development of the U.S.-
India partnership over the last two decades. Democracy, in various ways, has also been a realm
of cooperation between the two countries in the past.

In December 2019, the United States hosted the second 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue in
Washington led by the U.S. Secretaries of State and Defence and their Indian counterparts, at
which both sides reaffirmed India’s status as a Major Defence Partner and deepened
cooperation on maritime security, interoperability, and information sharing. While the 2+2
serves as the premier dialogue mechanism between the United States and India, there are more
than thirty bilateral dialogues and working groups, which span all aspects of human endeavour,
from space and health cooperation to energy and high technology trade. These include the
United States-India Counterterrorism Joint Working Group, which was established in 2000 and
is among our oldest government to government dialogues, as well as the Strategic Energy
Partnership, Cyber Dialogue, Civil Space Working Group, Trade Policy Forum, Defence
Policy Group and many more.

Under Biden and Harris’s presidency, US-India relations prove to be the defining alliance
among global powers. The “Steller” partnership between the two countries, will help optimize
global resources and drive-in development. The US and India are in a position where they both
need each other. The successful association will depend upon how the US engages with India.
The US should look at India as an equal partner rather than a subordinate. Going forward,
strategic cooperation between the two will create a “win-win” situation for both countries.

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 Economic Relations

The United States seeks an expanded trade relationship with India that is reciprocal and fair.
In 2019 overall, India-United States bilateral trade in goods and services reached $149 billion.
U.S. energy exports are an important area of growth in the trade relationship. In 2018 India
purchased 48.2 million barrels of U.S. crude oil, a significant increase from 9.6 million in 2017.
Last year, Indian students enrolled at U.S. colleges and universities contributed over $8 billion
to the U.S. economy. The total number of Indian students in the United States has more than
doubled over the last decade, from 81,000 in 2008 to a record high of 202,000 in 2019.

The US was India’s largest export destination and the second largest trading partner in 2020-
2021. While US exports to India were slightly lower than what it imported from the country,
India still was among the US’s top fifteen export markets last year. The US Trade
Representative Katherine Tai, who is in India on her first official visit, stated that trade
relationship between the two countries was a top priority for US President Joe Biden and for
her. There are, of course, frictions, too, due to conflicting interests and expectations. These
arise from the fact that the two are at different levels of development and have differing
priorities. But the common interests almost always outweigh the wrinkles.

India’s exports to the US in 2020-21 were valued at $51.62 billion and imports at $28.88
billion, resulting in a trade deficit of about $23 billion for the US. The top traded goods include
pearls and precious stones, pharmaceuticals, machinery, electronics, clothing, vehicles,
chemicals and fish products, optical, photo, medical apparatus and aluminium.1 Under the
Biden government seems to be more tolerant than the previous regime towards the trade surplus
that India has with the US. However, it has not yet taken any step to undo the harsh measures
implemented by Trump, be it the imposition of import duties on steel or withdrawal of GSP
benefits. On the positive side, Biden is lowering some of the work visa restrictions imposed by
Trump, which will benefit Indians. The possibility of the USTR engaging with India on
revoking steel duties, as it did for the EU recently, cannot be ruled out.

1
Amrita Sen, Indo-US Trade Relationship, The Hindu Business Line, (Nov.23, 2021)
https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/blexplainer/bl-explainer-all-about-indo-us-trade
relationship/article37638810.ece

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 India-United States Strategic Partnership

India-United States relations got strategic content in the early 1960s. The rise of the People's
Republic of China worried the policymakers in Washington. The Chinese assertion in Tibet
and its role in the Korean War and other such acts concerned Washington. As far the relations
between India and China were heated during the late fifties, the Americans found a golden
opportunity to take advantage of this situation to promote India as a counterweight to
China. But any unidimensional alliance is bound to be short-lived and this alliance was no
exception to this general rule. As China ceased to be a headache for the American policymakers
by the late sixties, this unidimensional alliance disappeared into thin air.

After the end of the Cold War, Indian and American interests converged in a number of areas,
including counter-terrorism, promotion of democracy, counter-proliferation, freedom of
navigation in the Indian Ocean, and the balance of power in Asia. As the world's oldest and
largest democracies, respectively, the United States and India share historic ties. India is a
founding member of the "Community of Democracies"—a prominent endeavour of the
United States on promotion of democracy. However, India rejected the suggestion of the USA
about setting up a Centre for Asian Democracy. On 27 October 2020, US-India signed a
military agreement on sharing sensitive satellite data. The Basic Exchange and Cooperation
Agreement, or BECA, allows US's strategic partners to access a range of sensitive geospatial
and aeronautical data which is useful for military actions.2

The White House is also considering supporting the move of India and South Africa seeking a
time-limited waiver of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS)
agreement which would allow countries and manufacturers to directly access and share
technologies to produce vaccines and therapeutics without causing trade sanctions or
international disputes. As the United States and India get closer, they also appear to be taking
their space cooperation to a higher orbit. NASA and ISRO collaboration on satellites to support
the NISAR mission marks another partnership deal to enhance management of the world’s
natural resources and disaster preparedness.

2
Express Web Desk, 2+2 dialogue: India, US sign crucial agreement on geo-spatial intelligence, The Indian
Express, (Oct.27,2020) https://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-us-22-dialogue-beca-pompeo-esper-rajnath-
jaishankar-6897216/

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 Impact of India’s Neighbour on India-United States Relations

A major hurdle in the development of India-US relations in the past has been what could be
termed the 'third country prism'. For a long time, US-Pakistan relations had an adverse effect
on US-India relations. The development of US-China relations had the same impact. Until
recently, conventional wisdom had it that the rapid growth in China-Burma relations would be
inimical to India's security in its northeast region. The following paragraphs briefly discuss
developments in these three-way relationships.

India-United States Relations, the Cold War and Pakistan's Influence on Events

For almost half a decade, India's relations with the United States were heavily influenced by
the politics of the Cold War, India's policy of non-alignment as well as US perception that
Pakistan was a trusted ally in its fight to contain communism. At no time was this more evident
than during the period of Soviet intervention in Afghanistan when Pakistan became a front-line
state in the war against communism as well as a conduit for the supply of arms and other
support to the Afghan resistance. The overwhelming support by the US declined after the
Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan and the refusal of President Bush Sr. to certify that
Pakistan did not possess nuclear weapons (1990). The subsequent cooling of US-Pakistan
relations has ensured that Pakistan is no longer a major factor in the improvement of India-US
relations.

China's Influence on India-US Relations

China became a factor in India-US relations following the normalisation of its ties with the US
in 1971 and the subsequent 'tilt' by both countries towards Pakistan during its war with India
that year. It is only during the last decade or so that India-US relations have not been influenced
by relations with China and have developed a synergy of their own.

India and China's Relations with Burma: Implications for India-US Relations

It has been argued by some that the developing closeness of China's relations with Burma
would be inimical to the strategic stability of the region as China seeks overland access to
Burma's ports in the Bay of Bengal as a means of sidestepping potential containment by the
US. The US has taken no official position on the growing closer relationship between China
and Burma.

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 Diplomacy and Global Cooperation

Multilateral Institutions

India and the United States have previously not worked in close tandem in multilateral
institutions, gradually, the two are finding common ground. This is leading to a new era in their
relationship. The two countries are sinking their political differences, and the convergence is
getting reflected in multilateral institutions. The rising Indian profile, globalization, the new
threats, new global challenges and the willingness of India to participate in global affairs may
force both the countries to search a new and meaningful relationship in international
institutions. The world may witness a reformed UNSC, a more active UN and new political
configuration in multilateral institutions. The new political institutions or bodies or groupings
reflecting the emerging power dynamics would be more important than the ones resisting
changes. The economic institutions would become ideologically more comfortable place for
both the countries for future activities. Both the countries are already developing harmonious
relationship in most of the specialized organizations. With the convergence of strategic and
security perceptions the two countries should work together in both new and old organizations.

Democracy

India's recently embraced democracy as one of the important foreign policy priorities. Until
recently India's explicit role in democracy promotion worldwide or in its immediate
neighbourhood has been reluctant and ad-hoc. The July 18, 2005 joint statement by Former
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and then U.S. President George W. Bush in the
landmark Indo-U.S. civilian nuclear agreement recognized democracy as a guiding principle
for building a peaceful, prosperous, inclusive and sustainable world.3 The United States India
democracy cooperation therefore created the overarching edifice for stronger cooperation in
several prioritized areas. Some of the drivers that would influence India-United States
relationship in the promotion of democracy are: Shared need for a stable South-Asian region,
the imperative of quality economic growth though quality democratic institutions, the need to
promote human rights through democratic development, Energy security, addressing the
problems of climate change and other non-traditional security. United States India cooperation
in promoting the values of peaceful democratic coexistence, prioritizing democracy for

3
Tanvi Madan, Democracy and the US-India Relationship, Brookings (Jan. 22,2021)
Eduhttps://www.brookings.edu/articles/democracy-and-the-us-india-relationship/

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economic growth, strengthening the role of civil-society in the Asian region by promoting and
protecting human rights and democratic reform, ensuring an order of environment protection,
ecological and balanced livelihood governance, partnership in post-conflict reparations of
democratic institutions and promoting multilateralism and liberal norms and values would
create a norm of good governance in the international milieu. The democratic institutions
would not only enable stronger partnership between both the nations but could also withstand
the pressures of changing domestic and international political dynamics.

International Cooperation
India and the United States cooperate closely at multilateral organizations, including the United
Nations, G-20, Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Regional Forum,
International Monetary Fund, World Bank, and World Trade Organization. The United States
welcomes India joining the UN Security Council in 2021 for a two-year term, and supports a
reformed UN Security Council that includes India as a permanent member. India is an ASEAN
dialogue partner, an Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development partner, and an
observer to the Organization of American States. India is also a member of the Indian Ocean
Rim Association (IORA), at which the United States is a dialogue partner. In 2019, the United
States joined India’s Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure to expand cooperation on
sustainable infrastructure in the Indo-Pacific region.

India and Biden administration

President Biden’s earlier policies towards India have remained largely positive. In 2008, as a
senator, he voted to approve the 2008 nuclear deal that had a huge bearing on India-US
relations. He was the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at the time and led
the effort to ratify the agreement. This was despite the fact that Vice President Biden had
criticised India for carrying out the nuclear tests in 1998. In 2013, Vice President Biden had
visited India with the ambitious aim of raising bilateral trade to $500 billion.4 On the Iran issue

4
Pradeep V Kamat, India – US Relations in Non-Defence, Non-Security, and Non-Nuclear Space –
Perspectives, Challenges, and Prospects, FINS (Oct.29,2021) https://finsindia.org/india-us-bilateral-relations-
in-non-defence-non-security-and-non-nuclear-space-perspectives-challenges-and-prospects/

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as well, President Biden’s approach is more flexible. President Trump’s Iran policy put India
in a difficult position. India relies on Iran’s crude oil and was left scrambling for energy security
after President Trump’s sanctions on Iran. Even as the US administration offered to replace the
loss of Iranian oil, many Indian refineries are configured to process Iranian oil. This had an
adverse impact on India-Iran diplomatic relations, even as Indian policymakers have sought to
convince Iran regarding the seriousness of the bilateral relations. Under Biden, other points of
contention between India and the US – such as the tricky issue of data localisation or capping
prices of medicines and medical devices – have a chance of getting towards a resolution. In
China, it is more likely that the Biden administration will help India against China, instead of
clubbing the two together. Biden has promised to re-join the Paris Climate Accord, and this
may help countries such as India in dealing with the massive challenges – both technical and
financial – on this front. As India and the U.S. grow closer, engaging in economical parameters,
democracy projects demand high cooperation and collaboration on the global front. It is the
time when the coalition should take a step ahead from a people-to-people strategy to ground-
led strategies. Both the nations should come on a common platform to address rising socio-
economic and geopolitical issues sharing a unified vision. Advancing on present bonding
between the two countries, powerful ties will be witnessed in times to come.

Way Forward for India-US Bilateral Relations

The density of these interactions makes clear that the US seeks the closest possible relationship
with India while remaining respectful of India’s constraints, even as New Delhi seeks deeper
affiliation with Washington that bolsters its national power. The partnership still lacks requisite
depth; mitigating this deficit remains a key task for both countries in the years ahead. The
strategic partnership between Washington and New Delhi will remain perpetually handicapped
if trade relations between the two countries remain un-reformed. India under Modi has made
significant progress in opening its economy to foreign investment, which is a major step
forward. The Trade liberalisation matters because deepened two-way trade contributes towards
increasing prosperity in both countries and, in doing so, creates enduring stakes in each other’s
success.

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India-US relations have become increasingly multi-faceted, covering cooperation in areas such
as trade, defence and security, education, science and technology, civil nuclear energy, space
technology and applications, environment, and health. In the grassroot-level interactions
between the people of the two nations provide further vitality and strength to this bilateral
relationship. There have been regular contacts at political and official levels with a wide-
ranging dialogue on bilateral, regional and global issues have taken place.

Conclusion

India’s relationship with the United States remains crucial to its own objectives, but is also
ambiguous. The asymmetry of power between the two countries is such that the relationship,
if potentially useful, is not necessary for the United States while potentially risky for India. The
strong strategic partnership is also based on an idea of “shared values” of democracy, rule of
law, religious freedom and protection of minorities. Moreover, the shift of the political centre
of gravity of Asia is resulting from the growing rivalry between China and the US is eroding
the foundations of India’s policy in Asia, while prospects for greater economic interaction is
limited by India’s slow pace of reforms. The future of India-US relations lies in their capacity
to evolve a new quid pro quo in which the US will formulate its expectations in more realistic
terms while India would assume a larger share of the burden of Asia’ security.

REFERENCES

• Aspen Institute India. The United States and India: A Shared Strategic
Future (Council on Foreign Relations, 2011) online
• Ayres, Alyssa and C. Raja Mohan, eds. Power Realignments in Asia: China, India
and the United States (2009)
• "2021 to provide important opportunities to broaden India-US partnership: Biswal".
The Economic Times. December 25, 2020

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