Trump or Harris, US-India relations can’t afford to drift

This article first appeared on Pacific Forum and is republished with permission. Read the original here.

The US is just a few weeks away from electing its 47^th president in one of the tightest races to the White House in recent history. Every four years, as the American electorate goes to the polls, to elect who they believe will best serve their interests, countries around the world keenly watch the outcome.

While the presidential election in the United States is primarily fought and won on social and economic issues that directly affect the lives of the American people, the foreign policy implications of this election cannot be ignored. Given America’s political, economic, and security footprints across the world, foreign policy matters greatly in the US election.

Even as the rest of the world calculated the pros and cons of either a Trump sequel or a second term for President Joe Biden, an unprecedented moment disrupted the election campaign, waking the world to a new electoral contest between former president Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. While there are unknowns about a Harris presidency, a Trump 2.0 is the cause of much anxiety and suspense around the world.

In Delhi, however, there is a sense of relative calm and confidence that the India-US bilateral relationship has bipartisan support in the US and that the broadly positive arc will continue irrespective of who wins in November.

The Delhi-Washington partnership could be described as a geopolitical Goldilocks, with a hitherto unseen strategic congruence to counteract China’s comprehensive and assertive rise, reshaping the security and economic landscape across the Indo-Pacific. From trade to technology, and Taiwan to Tibet, China is on