India-US ties gather pace as trade deal nears, focus shifts to AI, defence

Washington, June 30 (IANS) Senior US and Indian officials projected growing confidence in the India-US strategic partnership, saying a long-awaited bilateral trade agreement is nearing completion as the two countries deepen cooperation in artificial intelligence, semiconductors, defence manufacturing and resilient supply chains.

The broad consensus emerged at the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) Leadership Summit, where officials from both governments, lawmakers and business leaders described the relationship as entering a new phase driven by technology, investment and shared strategic interests.

US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor said negotiations on a bilateral trade agreement had entered their final stage.

“Most of this deal is complete,” Gor said. “There’s a few items that remain from both sides, but it’s in the last one or 2 per cent of that deal.” He said both governments were working to conclude the agreement after nearly 18 months of negotiations and described it as a “win-win situation” for both countries.

Gor also dismissed suggestions that bilateral ties had weakened, saying cooperation across trade, defence and people-to-people exchanges remained strong. He announced plans for a meeting of Quad foreign ministers in the Philippines in the coming weeks and said the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi had helped attract $20.5 billion in new investment into the United States this year.

India’s Ambassador to the United States, Vinay Mohan Kwatra said India’s economic transformation had positioned it as “an indispensable anchor” of global growth, stability and trusted partnerships. He said sustained reforms, manufacturing expansion and investments in advanced technologies had placed India on course to become a $7 trillion economy by the end of the decade.

Kwatra identified biotechnology, artificial intelligence, semiconductors and quantum technologies as the next frontiers of India-U.S. cooperation, while saying the two countries’ goal of expanding bilateral trade to $500 billion by 2030 would depend on closer integration of supply chains, investment, manufacturing and skilled talent.

Technology competition with China featured prominently throughout the summit.

Jacob Helberg, the US Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy and the Environment, described India as “the only country on earth that fundamentally rivals China” in engineering talent and called it America’s most important long-term partner in building trusted technology ecosystems.

Helberg said Washington wanted to diversify critical technology supply chains beyond China while working with India to develop a shared artificial intelligence developer ecosystem.

In his opening remarks, USISPF President Mukesh Aghi said American companies were quietly reducing dependence on China while expanding manufacturing and research operations in India.

The summit also underscored bipartisan support in Washington for closer ties with New Delhi.

Republican Sen. Steve Daines said India and the United States together represented the only combination capable of matching China’s scale in innovation.

Democratic Sen. Mark Warner called India one of America’s “top two or three” strategic partners over the long term. Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna argued that the relationship should ultimately be anchored in shared democratic values as well as expanding defence and economic cooperation.

Former US Ambassador Kenneth Juster placed the current relationship in historical context, describing people-to-people ties as the “secret sauce” that had sustained bilateral relations for decades. He also launched USISPF’s commemorative coffee table book, We the People: 250 Voices that Have Shaped the US-India Relationship.

The discussions reflected a shared assessment that India-US ties have moved well beyond their traditional focus on diplomacy and defence. Officials and business leaders repeatedly pointed to technology, supply chain resilience, manufacturing, energy security and investment as the defining priorities of the relationship’s next phase.

–IANS

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