Taking the stand that India needs to be “a net security provider” in the Indo-Pacific region, the Trump administration has let it be known that it “strongly supports” the sale of F-18 and F-16 fighter jets to New Delhi.
In a testimony before a Congressional committee on Thursday, Acting Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Alice Wells said the F-18 and F-16 fighter proposals put forth by Boeing and lockheed Martin have the potential to take the bilateral defense relationship to the next level.
“We strongly support these transfers. If India can seize these opportunities we can enhance interoperability between our militaries and support thousands of jobs in both countries,” she said.
As Wells put it, President Trump’s first meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi last June “set a positive tone and ambitious agenda for strengthening bilateral ties, particularly in the areas of defence, energy, and trade”, with defence and security cooperation continuing to be a central pillar of the bilateral partnership.
While Modi’s address to the joint session of Congress last year captured the energy and excitement defining this partnership, Trump is on record that the relationship between the two nations “has never been stronger, has never been better”, she said.
Wells noted that the US’s designation of India as a “Major Defence Partner” would give a further boost to bilateral defence trade that has already risen to over $15 billion over the past decade.
“Defense sales increase our security cooperation while also generating jobs at home,” she said, adding the State Department was committed to advocating on behalf of American companies as they compete for defence deals in the Indian market.
“The reason defense cooperation with India is so vital to U.S. interests is because we need India to be a net security provider in the Indo-Pacific, a region that serves as the fulcrum of global trade and commerce, with nearly half of the in the world’s 90,000 commercial vessels – many sailing under the U.S. flag – and two thirds of 4 traded oil traveling through the region,” she said.
On counter-terrorism cooperation, projected as a critical priority for both India and the United States, Well commented: “India is situated in a dangerous neighbourhood, where terrorist attacks have killed both Indians and Americans alike.”
While highlighting the need to step up joint training and capacity building to expand the counter- terrorism cooperation, she said more than 1,100 Indian security personnel have received training through the department’s Anti-Terrorism Assistance programme since 2009.
Turning to economic cooperation, she said bilateral trade has shot up from $45 billion in 2006 to more than $114 billion in 2016, adding US exports to India were supporting more than 260,000 American jobs across all 50 states.
Economic relationship, as she put it, has largely been on a positive trajectory. Even so, America needs to do more to balance the trade deficit between the two countries, which totalled nearly $30 billion last year.
“We are working closely with USTR and the commerce department to address the concerns of the US business community regarding India, including tariff and non-tariff barriers, subsidies, localisation policies, restrictions on investment, and intellectual property concerns that limit market access and impede US exporters and businesses from entering the Indian market,” Wells said.