Foundation for layered India-America relations

The first engagement between the two countries' leaders in Trump's second term met most expectations. Now, resolve differences over trade and immigration

- Dhruva Jaishankar

Mid the administrative chaos swirling through Washington DC, the visit this week of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his meeting with US President Donald Trump offered some relative predictability. The two engaged in discussions that also involved several US cabinet officials, including the secretaries of state, interior, commerce, and energy. In conclusion, Trump and Modi announced a wide-ranging agenda to take the bilateral relationship forward.

It included efforts that built upon the progress made during the Biden administration, particularly in terms of technology, defence, and regional cooperation. But there were also a surprising number of new initiatives floated. At the same time, larger uncertainties over US policies concerning trade and Trump's larger geopolitical intentions linger. These will have to be navigated over the next several months.

At its most superficial level, the visit went as one would have expected, given Trump and Modi's past engagements. The leaders hugged, lavished praise on each other, and found a number of points of convergence. More importantly, they agreed to continue - and even build upon - various forms of institutional engagement between their two governments. These included continued cooperation in Quad, I2U2, and the India-Middle East-Europe Corridor (IMEC). They also hinted at more minilateral initiatives, which suggests the Trump administration may be less sceptical of multilateral efforts than many of its critics feared.

With Quad having already met at the foreign ministerial level and India's defence minister Rajnath Singh discussing a possible '2+2 meeting' with his counterpart, US secretary of defence, Pete Hegseth, the institutional underpinnings of the relationship look well set.