Howdy Trump at Quad Summit in India
US President Donald Trump will attend the Quad Summit in India later this year –– likely his first visit to the country in his second term
US President Donald Trump will attend the Quad Summit in India later this year -- likely his first visit to the country in his second term –– as the two sides continue to collaborate on the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), set up an Indian Ocean Strategic Venture, create new plurilateral arrangements in Western Indian Ocean, West Asia and Indo-Pacific, and deepen military cooperation in multinational settings.
Laying out an expansive vision of multilateral cooperation across both to the region west and east of India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Trump affirmed that a “close partnership” between the US and India was “central to a free, open, peaceful and prosperous Indo-Pacific region” in a joint statement issued after their meeting at the White House on Thursday.
Quad summit in IndiaIndia and the US reaffirmed the principles that underpin Quad, including the centrality of Association of South East Nations (Asean), “adherence to international law and good governance; support for safety and freedom of navigation, overflight and other lawful uses of the seas; unimpeded lawful commerce; and advocacy for peaceful resolution of maritime disputes in accordance with international law”.
While the first principle is meant to reassure Asean countries that Quad -- it includes India, the US, Australia and Japan -- is not out to displace their regional mechanism, the other principles are all coded language denoting opposition to Chinese behaviour and actions.
Modi said he looked forward to hosting Trump in New Delhi for the Quad leaders’ summit. The summit is tentatively scheduled for the fall of this year. Trump and Modi also agreed that, before the summit, they would activate new Quad initiatives “on shared airlift capacity to support civilian response to natural disasters and maritime patrols to improve interoperability”. The humanitarian focus is a key Indian priority and the security focus is a key US priority.
Trump revived Quad and elevated it to ministerial-level meetings during his first term, which Joe Biden took forward by elevating it to the leader-level. This has given Trump ownership of the mechanism, reflected in the fact that the first engagement of his Secretary of State Marco Rubio was a Quad foreign ministers meeting.
West Asia compact Modi and Trump also agreed to “increase cooperation, enhance diplomatic consultations, and increase tangible collaboration” with partners in the West Asia.
“They highlighted the importance of investing in critical infrastructure and economic corridors to advancing peace and security in the region. The leaders plan to convene partners from the India-Middle East-Europe Corridor and the I2U2 Group within the next six months in order to announce new initiatives in 2025,” said the statement.
Even though both these initiatives were born during the Joe Biden administration, Trump takes great pride in it for they are the result of the Abraham Accords –– the process of normalisation of ties between Israel and its Arab neighbours ––which were born in his first term as president. His key aim in this term is ensuring the process of Israel-Saudi Arabia diplomatic normalisation reaches a conclusion, a key prerequisite for the success of the corridor, but his stated plans of taking over Gaza and unstated signals that Israel may have a free run in West Bank may complicate regional dynamics.
India as security provider in Indian Ocean The joint statement noted that the US appreciated India’s role as a “developmental, humanitarian assistance and net security provider in the Indian Ocean Region”.
Modi and Trump committed to deepening bilateral dialogue and cooperation across the vast Indian Ocean Region and launched the Indian Ocean Strategic Venture, “a new bilateral, whole-of-government forum to advance coordinated investments in economic connectivity and commerce”. The Biden administration had announced an Indian Ocean dialogue but this never happened because senior US officials missed a flight when the dialogue was to be held in Delhi. The venture is a new idea.
Modi and Trump also backed a plan by Meta to invest in an undersea cable project stretching over 50,000km to connect five continents and strengthening global digital highways in the Indian Ocean region and beyond. “India intends to invest in maintenance, repair and financing of undersea cables in the Indian Ocean, using trusted vendors”, the statement said.
New plurilateralsAnd finally, India and the US agreed to set up even more new plurilateral mechanisms in the Western Indian Ocean, Middle East, and Indo-Pacific “to grow relationships, commerce and cooperation across defence, technology, energy and critical minerals”. These will be announced by fall of 2025.
They also agreed to deepen military cooperation in military cooperation “in multinational settings to advance global peace and security” and the US welcomed India’s decision to take on a future leadership role in the Combined Maritime Forces naval task force to help secure sea lanes in the Arabian Sea.
Commenting on the significance of the segment on multilateral cooperation in various domains and theatres, Dhruva Jaishankar, executive director of Observer Research Foundation-America and author of Vishwa Shastra: India and the World, said, “This seems to indicate, contrary to some expectations, that the Trump administration is willing to work with partners on certain kinds of multilateral efforts that advance shared strategic objectives, help the US at home, and involve sufficient burden sharing by the partner countries.”