US Senator Says Modi-Trump Talks Could Strengthen Key India-US Partnership
Washington — U.S. Sen. Mark Warner said he hopes Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with President Donald Trump will improve bilateral relations, arguing that Washington should strengthen rather than weaken its strategic partnership with India.
“Well, I’ve not gotten a readout of the meeting. I hope it will improve relations,” Warner told IANS, a day after Modi and Trump met in France.
The Virginia Democrat, who co-chairs the Senate India Caucus, described the relationship as critically important and said Washington must continue investing in closer cooperation with New Delhi.
“I’m proud to be the co-chair of the India Caucus in the Senate. I think ties between India and America are extraordinarily important,” he said.
Warner said successive U.S. administrations had spent decades encouraging India to reduce its dependence on Russia and develop closer ties with the United States.
“For the last 25 years, we have tried to move India away from reliance on Russia and move more as a fellow democracy into alliance with us,” he said.
He pointed to the Quad, which includes India, the United States, Japan and Australia, as an example of efforts to strengthen cooperation among major democracies in the Indo-Pacific.
Warner also criticized Trump’s decision last year to sharply increase tariffs on Indian goods, saying the move sent the wrong signal to an important strategic partner.
“So it was beyond baffling to me that, earlier or last year that for a while President Trump arbitrarily raised tariffs on India to some of the highest in the world,” Warner said.
He argued that the tariffs risked undermining broader U.S. efforts to counter China’s influence and reduce India’s historical reliance on Moscow.
“Now we’ve been working to try to move India away from China, away from Russia, and all that did was drive India back to think, well, maybe partnering with America’s not our best bet,” he said.
Warner said he planned to seek a detailed account of the discussions between Modi and Trump but stressed that improving the relationship should remain a priority for both countries.
“This is, I think, one of the top two or three geopolitical relationships of the 21st century. And we need to strengthen this tie, not weaken it,” he said.
Modi and Trump met on the sidelines of international meetings in France amid continuing discussions on trade, defense cooperation and other strategic issues.
India and the United States have expanded cooperation in recent years across defense, energy, education, critical technologies, artificial intelligence, semiconductors, critical minerals and supply-chain resilience. (Source: IANS)
