'Committed to taking ties forward with US'

India is committed to taking forward relations with the US on the basis of mutual respect and shared interests, the external affairs ministry said on Thursday against the backdrop of strains in bilateral ties over trade-related issues and President Donald Trump's tariff policies.

- Rezaul H Laskar

The India-US defence partnership remains an important pillar of bilateral relations, with several engagements and an important military exercise scheduled for August, external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, seeking to dispel reports that the trade-related row had impacted defence and strategic ties. “We remain focused on the substantive agenda that our two countries have committed to and ‘we hope that the relationship will continue to move forward based on mutual respect and shared interests,” Jaiswal said at