By Monish Tourangbam
Posted on May 1st, 2025
Foreign visits by Vice Presidents of the United States are mere blips on America’s foreign policy radar, and they usually account for specific missions delegated by the President. However, Vice President J D Vance, who came a full circle from being rabidly anti-Trump to becoming Trump’s top loyalist, seems to emit different signal of authority and flair for spotlight, seldom seen among recent Vice Presidents. Astute enough to choose occasions and locations to either launch unapologetic attack on the closest of allies, or exude well-curated charm offensive, he has almost overshadowed Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and truly become the global messenger of President Donald Trump’s worldview. Therefore, what was the substance of Vance’s four-day trip to India, besides the opulent optics of a son-in-law visiting his wife Usha Vance’s country of birth?
What Happens in America, Does not Stay in America
The ongoing churn within America’s domestic politics is unlike anything seen until now, and its impact on Washington’s engagement with the world is undeniable. From energy transition and climate change to immigration, Trump has literally upended any business-as-usual approach. President Trump is a man in hurry, before his term ends and before congressional election results next year, ends up putting constraints. He and his team of loyalists, are on a mission, to affect dramatic changes in American polity and US foreign policy, subservient to their interpretation of “America First” and “Make America Great Again”. As Trump 2.0 goes about dismantling long-held traditions of US foreign policy, and re-wire the tools of America’s hard and soft power, friends and foes are on their toes.
While US-China competition getting heightened or the uncertainties in US-Russia enmity unfold in relatively predicted terms, the fracture widening in the western alliance is perhaps the most consequential global churn. More than any other Trump official, Vice President Vance has become the voice and face of the great rift in the West. Vance, speaking at the Jaipur International Centre, during his India trip, said, “…And there’s a pride in being Indian, a feeling of excitement about the days that lie ahead.” “Now, it’s a striking contrast with too many in the West, where some in our leadership class seem stricken by self-doubt and even fear of the future,” he added. While the fractured West may give some leeway for India’s multi-alignment policy, to open new grounds of engagement with both Europe and the US, Delhi should avoid being sucked into the new fault lines of the West.
It’s the Economy, Stupid!
As Vance, standing at the Jaipur International Centre, struck all the right chords, and gave a glowing assessment of Prime Minister Modi and India’s dynamic vision for the future, trade and economy remained central to his message for stronger bilateral relationship. From Day one of his second term in the White House, Trump’s mantra on foreign engagement has harped on hyper-transactional and reciprocal trade ties. While many countries continue to demonize Trump, many others continue to eulogize him and many more are hustling to navigate his four years in the White House. The highlight Vance’s speech was the announcement of the finalisation of the terms of reference for the Bilateral Trade Agreement
(BTA) negotiation between India and the US. From growing defence trade between the two countries to India’s growing imports of American gas, economic transnationalism animates what Vance branded as Trump’s vision to “rebalance global trade.”
A closer reading of Vance’s speech in Jaipur reflects how Trumpism has trumped globalization, the poster child of post-Cold War US foreign policy. Much academic ink has been spilled in American Ivy Leagues, to propel economic interdependence as a panacea to hegemonic wars. But, Vance said, “We traded hard power for soft power, because with economic integration, we were told, would also come peace through sameness.” This “thesis proved false or at least incomplete,” he contended. So, as America under Trump 2.0 aims at overhauling the multilateral economic architecture and the WTO-led negotiating parameters, New Delhi’s trade planners and negotiators have a real task at hand.
New Delhi and Washington Need to Talk “Neighbourhood”
The heinous terrorist attacks on unarmed tourists in Pahalgam, Jammu & Kashmir during Vance’s India visit, has put South Asia front and centre in India-US relationship, particularly on counter-terrorism cooperation, and how the Trump administration handles Pakistan’s destabilising impact in the region. Prior to Vance, America’s top intelligence official, Director of National Intelligence (DNI), Tulsi Gabbard had visited India to attend a global meeting of intelligence czars. Moreover, of late, the chaotic regime change in Bangladesh has had wide-ranging regional implications, particularly impacting India’s national security. America’s role in Bangladesh has been shrouded in myriad conspiracy theories and several unconfirmed reports. America’s role in Myanmar, a next door neighbour of India, that has been undergoing a violent civil war, has not been clear either. Moreover, the rapid retrenchment of US foreign aid and its impact on a number of projects in India’s neighbourhood will be consequential, particularly in the context of China’s outsized strategic footprints in the region. As India’s neighbourhood undergoes rapid changes, owing to both internal and external factors, Washington needs to be more mindful of New Delhi’s national security concerns while engaging India’s neighbourhood, a country that it calls its major defence partner.
*Monish Tourangbam is Director at the Kalinga Institute of Indo-Pacific Studies and Associate Editor at India Quarterly.
KIIPS is a premiere think-tank that intends to provide a platform to academics, researchers, scholars and experts from across the country and abroad.