US calls for stronger ties with India to bolster Indo-Pacific security

The White House's new national security strategy urges deeper ties with India to reinforce Indo-Pacific stability, citing the region's rising economic weight

The White House has called for stronger ties with India to help ensure security in the Indo-Pacific, a region it described as economically indispensable to the United States.

 

In its November edition of 'The National Security Strategy of the United States of America' report, Washington underlined the need to "deepen cooperation with New Delhi" across commercial, strategic and multilateral frameworks.

 

“We must continue to improve commercial (and other) relations with India to encourage New Delhi to contribute to Indo-Pacific security, including through continued quadrilateral cooperation (The Quad) with Australia, Japan, and the US,” the report said.

 

The strategy highlighted the need to align US allies and partners to prevent dominance in the region by any single competitor nation.

 

 

Why the Indo-Pacific matters to the US

The Indo-Pacific, the report noted, already accounts for almost half of global GDP based on purchasing power parity and around one-third based on nominal GDP.

 

“That share is certain to grow over the 21st century... the Indo-Pacific is already and will continue to be among the next century’s key economic and geopolitical battlegrounds,” the document said. “To thrive at home, we must successfully compete there—and we are.”

 

The document explicitly frames the Indo-Pacific as the region where the US must:

 

• Compete economically with China
• Deter military conflict, especially over Taiwan
• Strengthen alliances and partnerships, particularly with India, Japan, Australia, South Korea and others

Where India fits into the strategy

India, the world’s most populous nation and the fifth-largest economy, is identified as central to sustaining balance and stability in the region. The report arrives as New Delhi and Washington negotiate a trade pact that officials say is nearing completion.

 

The first tranche of the deal is “more or less near closure”, and is expected to address reciprocal tariffs imposed by Washington on several Indian products. The US currently levies 50 per cent tariffs on India, including a punitive 25 per cent duty linked to New Delhi’s Russian oil imports.

 

Energy ties reshape as flows shift

Indian refiners have recently cut back on Russian oil imports and increased purchases of US crude. India’s crude imports from the US rose in October to 593,000 barrels per day, the highest since March 2021.

 

Russian imports, however, remained sizeable. In November, India imported around 1.8 million barrels per day, accounting for more than 35 per cent of its crude basket. The increase reflected refiners front-loading purchases ahead of a November 21 deadline; flows later eased to around 1.27 million barrels per day, according to Kpler.