Amid Donald Trump’s administration’s punitive tariffs on India over its Russian oil trade, Nikki Haley, former US Ambassador to the United Nations, has cautioned that ties between Washington and New Delhi are near a breaking point, and said it was critical to get the relations back on track if America hopes to contain China’s growing global ambitions. In a Newsweek op-ed published Wednesday, Haley said India must not be treated as an adversary like China, and the Trump administration can’t let the issues of tariffs or the US role in the India-Pakistan truce drive a wedge between two of the world’s largest democracies.
The last few weeks witnessed an explosive series of events in India-US relations, with the Trump administration slapping India with 25 per cent tariffs for purchasing Russian oil, on top of the 25 per cent duty that the United States has already imposed on Indian goods. These developments followed months of escalating tension, including over New Delhi’s refusal to accept the US role in India-Pakistan ceasefire negotiations.
“To achieve the Trump administration’s foreign policy goals-outcompeting China and achieving peace through strength-few objectives are more critical than getting US-India relations back on track,” she wrote.
Trump’s Republican colleague, Haley, has remained a vocal Trump critic despite endorsing him for the 2024 presidential run. She noted that “India must be treated like the prized free and democratic partner that it is-not an adversary like China, which has thus far avoided sanctions for its Russian oil purchases, despite being one of Moscow’s largest customers.”
“Scuttling 25 years of momentum with the only country that can serve as a counterweight to Chinese dominance in Asia would be a strategic disaster,” she warned.
Haley noted that in the short-term goals, New Delhi is essential in helping Washington move its critical supply chains away from China.
“While the Trump administration works to bring manufacturing back to our shores, India stands alone in its potential to manufacture at a China-like scale for products that can’t be quickly or efficiently produced here, like textiles, inexpensive phones, and solar panels.”
In the defence sector, New Delhi’s expanding military ties with Washington’s allies, including Israel, not only make India a crucial market for US defence equipment, but also an asset to the free world’s security, she said.
She also noted that India’s growing clout and security involvement in the Middle East could prove essential in helping to stabilise the region as America seeks to send fewer troops and dollars there. Haley emphasised India’s location at the centre of China’s vital trade and energy flows could complicate Beijing’s options in the case of a major conflict.
“In the longer term, India’s significance is even more profound. Home to more than a sixth of humanity, India surpassed China as the world’s most populous country in 2023, with a young workforce that contrasts with China’s ageing one,” she said.
India is the world’s fastest-growing major economy, and Haley noted its rise represents the most significant geopolitical event since China’s, and is among the greatest obstacles to China’s goal of reshaping the global order.
“Simply put, China’s ambitions will have to shrink as India’s power grows. Yet, unlike Communist-controlled China, the rise of a democratic India does not threaten the free world,” she added.
Nimarata Nikki Randhawa Haley was the 29th US ambassador to the United Nations from January 2017 to December 2018 in Trump’s first administration. She was the first Indian American to serve in a presidential cabinet.