The Biden administration will roll out the red carpet this week for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who arrives in Washington Wednesday for a visit the White House hopes will strengthen U.S.-India ties in the face of China’s rising aggression in the Indo-Pacific.
Mr. Modi, who received an especially warm reception from former President Donald Trump on a 2019 visit to Houston, will be treated to a state dinner by President Biden and first lady Jill Biden at the White House Thursday. He’ll also address a joint session of Congress Thursday afternoon.
The Biden administration will seek during the visit to emphasize India’s importance to wider U.S.-led efforts to counter China’s autocratic posturing on the international stage. Also discussed will be India’s close relations with Russia.
Analysts say Mr. Modi will push for an expansion of trade with the U.S., while the Biden administration wants the Indian prime minister’s help in diversifying U.S. supply chains and manufacturing bases for high-tech products, including microchips, away from China and toward like-minded democracies.
While India ranks eighth on the list of U.S. foreign trading partners — lagging well behind China, which is third — the Indian economy is among the world’s biggest and fastest growing. Meanwhile, India this year is on track to surpass China as the world’s most populous country.
A White House spokesperson said the Modi visit “will strengthen our two countries’ shared commitment to a free, open, prosperous and secure Indo-Pacific and our shared resolve to elevate our strategic technology partnership, including in defense, clean energy and space.”
The spokesperson added that the meeting “will affirm the deep and close partnership between the United States and India and the warm bonds of family and friendship that link Americans and Indians together.”
Nearly 3 million Indian immigrants are in the U.S., with a million more with Indian heritage, a diaspora whose presence is increasingly felt on the U.S. political landscape. Two 2024 Republican presidential candidates, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, are of Indian descent.
Mr. Modi is slated to address an invitation-only gathering of 850 influential Indian Americans at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington on Friday, according to New Delhi Television.
During talks earlier in the week, Mr. Biden and Mr. Modi are expected to focus on their countries’ commitment to a free and secure Indo-Pacific region, as well as on their technology partnerships, including in clean energy and space, according to the White House.
The Russia factor
U.S.-India relations were burdened by mutual suspicion during the Cold War era, when India maintained a defense partnership with the former Soviet Union. The relationship between New Delhi and Washington has shifted in more recent decades as the two democracies have aligned more closely amid the global rise of Communist Party-ruled China.
However, Russia remains India’s biggest supplier of military hardware. A report by Reuters noted that successive U.S. administrations have sought to wean India away from its defense partnership with Moscow, although New Delhi has increased its purchase of cheap Russian oil in the aftermath of the invasion of Ukraine — much to the frustration of the West.
U.S.-India relations in the Biden era have been warm, but also marked by complexity as Mr. Biden has sought stronger ties with India — the world’s largest democracy — while simultaneously looking to counter China’s growing economic and military assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific region.
Since coming to office, Mr. Biden has run with the former Trump administration’s push to invigorate the Quad, an international partnership among the U.S., Australia, India and Japan. The grouping has aligned to counter China’s economic pressure against smaller nations in the Indo-Pacific.
It has also sought to rally the world against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Unlike the other Quad countries and nearly every other major U.S. ally, however, India has not imposed sanctions on Russia and has offered only limited criticism of its invasion of Ukraine.
• This article is based in part on wire service reports.
• Guy Taylor can be reached at gtaylor@washingtontimes.com.