'To Face China, US Needs India As A Friend': Nikki Haley

Former US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley has issued a stark warning: Washington’s relationship with New Delhi is at risk of unraveling, and repairing it must be a top priority if America hopes to curb China’s growing global influence.

In a strongly worded op-ed for Newsweek published Wednesday, Haley cautioned the Trump administration against allowing disputes over tariffs and Russian oil imports to overshadow the broader strategic partnership between the world’s two largest democracies.

“The United States should not lose sight of what matters most: our shared goals,” she wrote. “To face China, the United States must have a friend in India.”

US-India Rift Deepens Over Russian Oil

Relations between Washington and New Delhi have been strained in recent months. The tensions intensified after President Donald Trump slapped India with 25% reciprocal tariffs and an additional 25% levy in response to its continued purchase of Russian oil. The move followed earlier disputes, including friction over America’s role in India-Pakistan ceasefire talks.

While Haley endorsed Trump’s pressure on Moscow, she stressed that punishing India could backfire. “India’s energy purchases are helping to fund Vladimir Putin’s brutal war against Ukraine,” she acknowledged. But she warned that alienating New Delhi would squander decades of progress. “Scuttling 25 years of momentum with the only country that can serve as a counterweight to Chinese dominance in Asia would be a strategic disaster.”

India’s Strategic Value to Washington

Haley underscored India’s growing importance to both US economic and security interests. As Washington seeks to diversify supply chains away from China, she noted, India offers manufacturing capacity “at China-like scale” across sectors ranging from textiles and smartphones to solar panels.

She also highlighted New Delhi’s deepening defense partnerships with the US and close allies such as Israel, calling India a “crucial asset to the free world’s security.”

Looking ahead, Haley argued that India’s rise could reshape the global order. “In the long run, India’s ascent may be the most significant geopolitical development since China’s economic boom,” she wrote. “Simply put, China’s ambitions will have to shrink as India’s power grows.”

Call for Direct Trump-Modi Talks

Haley urged President Trump to personally engage with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to halt what she described as a “downward spiral” in relations. Without decisive action, she warned, Beijing would seize the opportunity to drive a wedge between Washington and New Delhi.

“It would be a massive—and preventable—mistake to balloon a trade spat into an enduring rupture,” she cautioned.

Haley closed her piece by recalling Ronald Reagan’s message to former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1982: while the United States and India may sometimes “travel separate paths,” their ultimate destination must remain the same.

Reiterating that sentiment, she wrote: “The United States should not lose sight of what matters most: our shared goals. To face China, the United States must have a friend in India.”