U.S. Vice President JD Vance delivers remarks at the Rajasthan International Centre in Jaipur, India, on Tuesday, April 22, 2025. Kenny Holston/Pool via REUTERS
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Kenny Holston
US Vice President JD Vance has pitched for more energy and defence sales to India underlining that America’s ‘drill baby drill’ policy would lower energy costs for New Delhi while its fifth generation F 35 fighter jets could protect India like “never before”.
Championing more energy buys, Vance said the US believed that India would benefit from American energy exports at much lower costs. “As President Trump is fond of saying, America has once again begun to drill, baby drill. And we think that will be to the benefit of Americans, but it will benefit India as well,” Vance said, speaking at the Rajasthan International Centre in Jaipur, on Tuesday.
The US also wants India to buy more of its military equipment, Vance said, adding that it was the best in class. “American fifth generation, F 35 for example, would give the Indian Air Force the ability to defend your airspace and protect your people like never before,” he said.
Seeks more access
Vance also underlined that Americans wanted more access to the Indian market and the country must drop some of its non-tariff barriers even as he officially announced the finalisation of the terms of reference for the India-US bilateral trade agreement (BTA) negotiations.
Vance is on an official four-day visit to India with his family and senior members of the US government. He met Prime Minister Modi on Monday before flying to Jaipur where he toured the Ajmer fort. The US VP will visit Agra on Wednesday and leave India early morning on Thursday.
Trump wants all US’ trade partners with high import tariffs and a trade surplus with the US, including India, to buy more American goods. Although he paused the reciprocal tariffs he had announced on most countries on April 2, for a 90-day period, Trump plans to impose the levies if satisfactory trade deals with the US are not struck within the time-frame.
Tech collabs
Technological collaboration was going to extend well beyond defence and energy as the US-India Trust Initiative would build on billions of dollars of planned investments that American companies have already announced across India, Vance said. He added that data centres, pharmaceuticals, undersea cables and countless other critical goods would be jointly built in the future.
Vance cautioned that India needed to drop its non-tariff barriers and he had spoken to Modi about it. “We don’t blame PM Modi for fighting for India’s industry, but we do blame American leaders of the past for failing to do the same for our workers, and we believe that we can fix that to the mutual benefit of both US and India.”
“I think that our nations have so much to gain by investing in one another… And I know that Americans, our people, are excited about that prospect, and that President Trump and I are looking forward to stronger ties,” he said.
Published on April 22, 2025
