U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh shake hands after signing a 10-year bilateral defense framework in Kuala Lumpur on Oct. 31. (Screenshot from Hegseth’s official X page)
BENGALURU — India and the U.S. have signed a 10-year defense framework that involves information sharing and technology cooperation, signaling a thaw in the relations between the two nations that have been at loggerheads over Washington’s tariff onslaught.
“This advances our defense partnership, a cornerstone for regional stability and deterrence,” U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth wrote on social media platform X on Friday.
Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh also posted on his X account, saying that the framework signaled “a growing strategic convergence” between the two nations and will “herald a new decade of partnership.”
“Defense will remain a major pillar of our bilateral relations,” Singh said, adding, “Our partnership is critical for ensuring a free, open and rules-bound Indo-Pacific region.”
The development comes after Washington slapped New Delhi with 50% tariffs, including a 25% penalty for buying Russian oil, which U.S. President Donald Trump alleged was fueling a “war machine” as sanctioned Russia engages in a protracted war with Ukraine. The stalemate over oil purchases, coupled with India’s reluctance to open up its dairy and agriculture sectors, had slowed trade talks between the two nations.
But the trade talks have picked up pace, with New Delhi saying last month that the talks were “positive” and “forward looking.”
The U.S. is India’s largest export destination, but shipments fell 20.7% month-over-month in September to $5.44 billion.
Analysts said the standoff between the two nations appears to be easing. Alexandra Hermann, a lead economist at U.K.-based think tank Oxford Economics, predicted in a note earlier this week that “recent ramping up of negotiations and an optimistic official commentary suggest reaching a trade deal before the end of this year is a likely outcome.”
She believes the U.S. tariff on India will come down to “around 20%,” which is at a comparable level to peers in Asia, but “not fall to Japan and South Korea’s level of 15%.”
While the details of the defense framework have not been revealed, an information-sharing pact between two countries generally means that, under certain conditions, a military shares security-related sensitive, classified information with another military of a partner country for improving defense collaboration. For example, in 2023, the U.S., Australia, India and Japan, in a grouping known as the Quad, began exploring ways to share information about cyberattacks targeting critical infrastructure facilities.
While such strategic engagements are long processes, some analysts point out that the framework’s features could wither.
“While the talks earlier had suggested India as a means to counter China, there has been a string of actions [recently] trying to push India down to just another player in South Asia, rather than a larger player in the global context,” Narendra Pani, a professor at the National Institute of Advanced Studies in Bengaluru, told Nikkei Asia.
Whether the “tech cooperation,” the phrase Hegseth mentioned in his post, includes a transfer of American defense technology to India could also be a key for the defense industry.
A U.S. government report released in March stated that India has been the world’s leading importer of arms by value since 1950, with imports reaching $136 billion through 2024. Russia is India’s key arms supplier, accounting for 59% of India’s defense imports between 2008 and 2024. France accounted for 12% of the imports, the U.S. for 10%, and Israel for 9%, the report noted.
Washington has “actively encouraged” New Delhi to reduce its dependence on Russian arms, the report said, acknowledging that “India’s suppliers are becoming more diverse.”
The article was published in the asia.nikkei