Intelligence sharing, joint military operations and technology development: India and the United States extended their defense cooperation on Friday. According to US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, the two countries want to provide a “cornerstone for regional stability” in the Indo-Pacific. According to his Indian counterpart Rajnath Singh, the renewed agreements “promote joint strategic interests”.
It shows that both countries still want to counterbalance China. This seemed to receive slightly less attention during Donald Trump’s second term than under his predecessor Joe Biden. In addition, the agreement provides some relief in the relationship that has come under pressure this year.
The new agreements are in fact an extension of an existing pact from 1995. That was a turning point: both countries came closer to each other after the end of the Cold War after a rather difficult relationship.
It led, among other things, to significant mutual arms trade. This was hardly the case until 2008, but since then it has already involved around 24 billion dollars (21 billion euros). The US is therefore one of India’s largest arms suppliers. In February, shortly after Trump took office as president, he and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi agreed on a number of major purchases: India would purchase several patrol aircraft and both countries jointly produce Javelin anti-tank missiles, which also gave a significant boost to India’s policy to become ‘self-sufficient’. According to Trump, New Delhi would eventually even purchase F-35 fighter jets.
Annoyance
The agreement therefore appears to be the continuation of existing policies that were already beneficial to both parties. But the renewal comes at a salient time, because this year the relationship between India and the US has come under pressure. New Delhi was not pleased with the leading role that Trump publicly claimed when a ceasefire with Pakistan was reached in May.
In the short-lived confrontation with Pakistan this spring, Russian S400 surface-to-air missile systems proved crucial to Indian operations. India still has important relations with Russia: it also purchases a lot of military equipment there. American weaponry is of great importance for the modernization of India’s troops and arsenal, but contracts with Russia remain necessary for the maintenance of older weapons systems.
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Russian oil
Trump’s main pet peeve is that India continues to buy Russian crude oil. Many countries have stopped doing this since the invasion of Ukraine due to sanctions. The US president punished India by imposing high import duties of 50 percent. According to New Delhi, this is unfair, because other countries that have benefited from the lower price of Russian oil since the invasion of Ukraine have not been reprimanded in the same way.
Due to the tariff dispute, the relationship deteriorated in recent months. For example, some important bilateral meetings – such as between Hegseth and Singh, who were due to discuss defense cooperation in August – were cancelled. Negotiations on a trade agreement also came to a standstill.
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India is also likely to be hit by new sanctions on two Russian oil companies, which Washington announced at the end of October. Indian refiners could be hit with secondary sanctions if they continue to buy Russian crude. Trump hopes that India will refrain from purchasing Russian oil and stated earlier in October that Modi has “promised” him to “stop” doing so.
There was no response from New Delhi. It was striking that Modi missed the ASEAN summit in Kuala Lumpur last weekend – officially because of the Hindu festival of Diwali. So he would according to Indian critics wanted to avoid an awkward meeting with Trump. But it was precisely at the ASEAN meeting that Hegseth and Singh managed to pull off the defense deal.
Yet this has not restored the difficult relationship – at most it has prevented further deterioration. A general trade agreement seems indispensable for structural improvement of relations. To achieve this, Delhi will probably have to comply more with Trump’s sanctions against Russia.
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