Preparing for the Trump disruption

India has the diplomatic wherewithal to deal with Trump 2.0 even as issues such as H-1B visa and trade will test ties from time to time

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External affairs minister S Jaishankar's nearly week-long visit to the US was aimed at taking stock of one of India's most crucial and consequential bilateral relationships and included meetings with both members of the outgoing Joe Biden administration and the transition team of President-elect Donald Trump. For more than two decades now, New Delhi has benefited from bipartisan support in the US for a closer embrace of India, which has extended from trade and education to defence and high technology. The two countries work closely together on strategic and security issues across the Indo-Pacific, with these efforts driven by common concerns about an increasingly assertive China, while two-way trade in goods and services was worth $190 billion in 2023