India is inching closer to striking a trade deal with the Trump administration as US Vice President JD Vance underscores the importance of bilateral ties during a largely personal trip to the South Asian nation.
A "prosperous and peaceful" world depended on cooperation between India and the United States, Mr Vance told an audience in the western city of Jaipur as he encouraged India to buy more US military hardware such as F-35 fighter jets.
"If we fail to work together successfully, the 21st century could be a very dark time for all of humanity," he said.
The day prior, Mr Vance met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi where they discussed negotiations over an expected trade deal.
US President Donald Trump had announced 27 per cent tariffs against India prior to implementing a 90-day pause — intended to allow countries to negotiate trade deals — which ends in July.
The US is India's largest trading partner, and a statement from Mr Modi's office said the two sides had made "significant progress" towards a deal.
A White House statement said Mr Vance and Mr Modi had produced "a road map for further discussions", even as US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer reiterated a "serious lack of reciprocity in the trade relationship with India".
Trade tensions despite being 'birds of the same feather'
India is seen by Western powers as an important regional counterweight against China.
Mr Trump is expected to visit India later in the year for a summit of the Quad grouping, along with the leaders of Japan and Australia.
Flinders University international relations lecturer Leoni Connah said Mr Trump and Mr Modi were "birds of the same feather".
"They are both right-wing, popular and divisive leaders, they have both gone against minority communities, both use misinformation and disinformation to their advantage, and they admire each other and refer to one another as 'great friends'," she said.
But the threatened imposition of high tariffs against Indian goods could disrupt the tight-knit relationship.
"The tariffs might be higher on China, but this could make Indian exports less competitive which I doubt the Modi administration will appreciate," Dr Connah said.
Mr Trump has deemed India a "tariff abuser" — calling out the South Asian nation specifically during his March address to US Congress.
"It's very unfair. India charges us auto tariffs higher than 100 per cent," Mr Trump said.
India has long used tariffs to protect its domestic industries, including cars, electronics and agricultural products.
India muted on deportation of citizens
During the meeting with Mr Modi and visits to tourist sites, Mr Vance was accompanied by his wife Usha and their three children Mirabel, Ewan and Vivek who wore traditional Indian attire.
Usha Vance is the first Asian-American Second Lady and the first of the Hindu faith.
"I grew up with incredibly loving parents who came from a different country," she said in an interview with Fox News last year.
"They came voluntarily, they came legally, and they made a life for themselves in a place where there were tons of other immigrants."
There are an estimated 725,000 undocumented Indian migrants in the United States, of whom 18,000 Indians have reportedly been identified for deportation by the Trump administration.
Unlike other countries, India has been muted in its response to the forced return of almost 400 Indian citizens since January — many of whom were returned on military aircraft in shackles and chains.
Despite criticism from opposition parties, the Modi administration had "maintained a silence" on the manner in which Indians had been forcibly repatriated, said Nitasha Kaul, director of the University of Westminster's Centre for the Study of Democracy.
"Right-wing supporters of the Modi government have praised Trump for being an admirable strongman leader and asked for Indian government to emulate in expelling what they see as 'illegal Bangladeshi and Rohingya migrants'," she said.
"This is unsurprising since the Indian anti-immigrant sentiment towards Muslims has been quite vitriolic, with the current Indian Home Minister Amit Shah, in the past, having referred to Muslim migrants as termites, promising to throw them into the Bay of Bengal."
A day into Mr Vance's trip, militants killed at least 26 people in Muslim-majority Kashmir — an attack labelled "evil" by Mr Modi.
"Over the past few days, we have been overcome with the beauty of this country and its people. Our thoughts and prayers are with them as they mourn this horrific attack," Mr Vance wrote on X.
Prior to arriving in New Delhi, Mr Vance's family visited Rome where he had a private meeting with Pope Francis on Easter Sunday.
Mr Vance, who converted to Catholicism in 2019, had been rebuked by Francis and the US Conference of Catholic Bishops over the government's mass deportation push.
Speaking to CBS News earlier this year Mr Vance responded he was "heartbroken" by the criticism.
But he said: "The US Conference of Catholic Bishops has frankly not been a good partner in common-sense immigration enforcement that the American people voted for."
Pope Francis died of heart failure on Monday aged 88 leading to a global outpouring of grief including from millions of Catholics in Hindu-majority India, where three days of national mourning were declared.
