US considers India an indispensable partner and this partnership is especially crucial as India prepares to assume the G20 presidency. This is according to the statement by US Secretary of the Treasury Janet L Yellen, speaking at the US – India Businesses and Investment Opportunities Event in New Delhi.
Addressing the gathering Yellen said, “over the next year, we look forward to supporting India’s presidency and making progress on our shared global priorities. But today, I want to focus on our own bilateral economic relationship. Deepening our bilateral ties will reap significant economic benefits for both of our nations. At a time of global turmoil, I also believe that it will bolster our countries’ resilience and national security.”
Yellen elaborated on how conomic ties between the US and India are stronger than ever before. Bilateral trade between the two countries reached an ‘all-time high of over $150 billion in 2021.” He further said that direct investment from India “supported over 70,000 jobs at the end of 2020. A broad range of American companies – from Whirlpool to Boeing to GE – invest in India. And Indian technology firms like Infosys and Mindtree are critical to the day-to-day operations of many American corporations.” According to her the our strong educational and research collaboration between the two “will lay the groundwork for future economic growth.”
Outlining the challenges in future Yellen believes that the recent disruptions caused by the pandemic and Russia’s war are a reason to further deepen the economic ties between the two, “India is one of our trusted trading partners. In a world where supply chain vulnerabilities can impose heavy costs, we believe it’s important to strengthen our trade ties with India and the large number of countries that share our approach to economic relations.”
United State’s goal is to “vigorously promote global economic integration while creating greater redundancies in our supply chain to mitigate concentration risks We also want to diversify away from risky countries like Russia that seek to weaponise trade integration to advance their geopolitical aims. We call this strategy ‘friendshoring’,” pointed out Yellen.
She reiterated that US will continue to build business and commercial ties through “meetings like the U.S.-India Commercial Dialogue and CEO Forum. Further, US also is partnering with India to grow local industries and connect them to global supply chains.”
The Indo-Pacific region is projected to be the largest contributor to global growth over the next few decades. She concluded that closer ties between the two nations is beneficial and both parties has “much to gain: for our economies as well as for our resilience and national security.”
