The US sees India as "indispensable" for maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific and an essential partner for a favorable balance of power in Asia, a senior Trump administration official said.
Elbridge Colby, the US under secretary of defense for policy, pointed to the alignment between New Delhi's "Bharat First" approach and the Trump administration's policy of "America First" and flexible realism.
Colby listed four central planks that could drive cooperation between the US and India, including the centrality of military power, defence industrial collaboration, and "strategic candour".
The US and India have agreed on the framework for a bilateral trade deal and Washington has slashed tariffs, while acknowledging that the world is passing through one of the most significant shifts in global power in generations.
Colby said the US sees India not merely as a key partner but as an essential one in ensuring a long-term, favorable balance of power in Asia, and that the two sides will work together despite differences or even disputes on certain issues.
