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The benefits that India enjoyed for many years under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) programme of the United States was withdrawn, effective 5 June 2018. India was the largest beneficiary of the programme, of which it has been part since its inception in 1974. This paper evaluates the impact of the withdrawal on specific sectors of Indian exports. For comparison, the paper uses the Harmonized System Code (HS Code) Commodity Classifica

US President Barak Obama's latest "surge" in Af-Pak policy is unlikely to succeed largely because of huge challenges imposed by geography and the seemingly intractable ethnic divisions in Afghanistan makes success

By not railing against Trump, by showing restraint during the VP debate, Harris came across as a woman in control.

In Saudi Arabia, the Biden administration is trying to walk a fine line between a robust interpretation of US interests and a softer definition of US values. For all his flaws, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has embarked on an ambitious and perilous mission to ‘normalise’ Saudi Arabia. The process isn’t democratic and there are times when reform & repression travel side by side.

US did not believe in the view that democracy could accomplish economic growth in Afghanistan. And their preference was authoritarian modernisation rather than through democratic means, according to Stanford University professor Dr. Robert Rakove.

Prominent Japanese scholars feel that the United States' position is changing vis-à-vis China. They also think that Tokyo was wary of the possibility where the US and China might cut a deal.

The strengthening of working relationships with emerging Asian powers like India and Indonesia would form the second element of the United States's rebalancing policy, according to Ms Meera Shankar, former Indian Ambassador to the United States.

The increased interdependence between the various players in the East Asia region is a potential area that needs to be harnessed more effectively to foster the relations and avoid the territorial conflicts and animosity, according to Hitoshi Tanaka of the Japan Research Institute.

The breakdown of high-level communications worrying

That India-US ties are at the nexus of a new beginning shaping the Indo-Pacific is no surprise. PM Modi's second visit to the US at the beginning of his second year in office only reiterates the importance of this relationship.

It is a reality today that the US-India relationship is on a somewhat arid plateau. It is unable to meet the expectations placed on it and the reason for that is the increasing lack of what can be called "strategic trust" between New Delhi and Washington.

At a conference on 'Building Pan Asian Connectivity' in Kolkata, US Ambassador to India Richard Verma has said the Asia policy of the United States and India's Act East policy can work in complementary ways to increase regional trade and growth.

India and the United States, as established space-faring nations, should work together to clearly and publicly define what behavior the international community should find both acceptable and unacceptable,

Parliamentarians were supposed to meet in the afternoon of December 13 to honour those who died saving them five years ago. Instead, they woke up to the horror stories of their Eleven accepting bribes for agreeing to do something they were in any case elected to do - raise issues in Parliament. It is ironic that the exposé took place on December 13.

The jury is still out on the likely purchase of the much talked of ShinMaywa US 2i — the Japanese amphibious airplane by India for Navy

The US-Africa Leaders' Summit in Washington D.C from August 4 to 6 attracted considerable international media attention for various reasons. To begin with, for the US, it was a first of its kind.

Cyber security has taken a front seat in the U.S.-China relations, as seen in the last two high level bilateral meetings. The California summit in June 2013 and the recently held U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) V in July 2013 were dominated by cyber issues.

China may soon find it difficult to source semiconductors specific to the development of artificial intelligence, expanding on US export control measures announced in October 2022. The US is preparing to constrain access of Chinese companies to US cloud-computing services.

US-China relations have been rocky since 2018 when the two sides started a tariff war and the US began to restrict the export of semiconductors to China. And then came Covid-19 and as the situation in the US deteriorated, rhetoric against China began to rise. It has been opportunistic, driven by the hope that it would make the electorate overlook shoddy handling of the pandemic by the Trump administration.

Xi has highlighted ‘severe challenges’ arising out of America’s containment policy

The average tariff rate for WTO member countries was down to nine per cent in 2013.

A proposal by Nobel economists to resolve the trade war ignores the whole point of having a global trading system.

The US has done some serious weight-lifting to break down its own barriers to closer defence ties with India, and has taken away the plank that it isn't sincere. Can India do the same? Dr. Carter and his team have left a legacy which can be built upon. It is just the end of the beginning.

The healthcare industry is undergoing an unprecedented change. The affordability and quality of healthcare are being profoundly affected by increased globalization, competition, cost consciousness, regulations and new technologies. The US is expected to spend up to 20% of GDP on healthcare by 2015.

The United States-India relations reached a high point when the two countries signed the Civil Nuclear Agreement in 2005. But since then, relations between the two countries have drifted. Both the countries must move ahead to build trust and cooperation in other areas.

Washington needs to understand that India-US partnership is not about democracy or common values but about common interests. The real strategic glue in the relationship is the common concern in maintaining some sort of balance in the larger Asian region in the context of China's rise.

With the nuclear deal over, New Delhi and Washington need another big idea to power the bilateral relationship over the next several years. Space cooperation has the potential for being that next big idea.

The US-India Strategic Dialogue appears to have produced no big ideas for carrying forward the relationship. Both countries need to be more innovative and visionary, and identify cutting edge areas to cooperate - like space.

It is time for the India-US security partnership to be more than a Voldemort -that whose name shall not be spoken. India is capable enough to secure its interests within such a partnership. The trade relationship will always be contentious, that much is clear.

The US needs Pakistan to withdraw from Afghanistan and Pakistan needs all the money it can get. Pakistan also dreads that if the US leaves without helping Pakistan get what it wants from the Indians now, which is a concession on Kashmir, they will never have another chance.

India has significant interests in the Persian Gulf region, but it appears to have dealt itself out of the game by tamely skewing its Middle East policy in favour of the informal US-Saudi Arabia-Israel coalition. Iran was given short shrift as New Delhi went along with Trump’s ‘maximum pressure’ policy on Iran. New Delhi’s motives may have been practical.

Iran’s leadership crisis may have come at an important time for the US, amid an ongoing political slugfest at home in an election cycle and a litmus test for US relations with Israel.

During the US President's visit to Asian countries, Obama and Abe underscored their commitment to economic and security cooperation with ASEAN countries where Chinese influence has seen a marked surge in recent years.

The US and Japan have decided to opt out of joining the AIIB though many important US allies like Germany, UK, Australia and South Korea have joined the China-led initiative. Strong business groups in Japan, however, worry that they might miss many investment opportunities which could now go to many developed Western countries.

B. Raman, former head of the counter-terrorism division of India's external intelligence agency, suggested that India should continue the peace process with Pakistan and should not get involved in this matter involving the US and Pakistan. He said New Delhi should not pressure Islamabad further in Pakistan's hour of 'humiliation'.

US-Pak relations are like high risk aerobatics. The plane nosedives, loops up, cruises at varying altitudes, takes a few spins and steadies.

The tripartite meeting between Afghanistan, Pakistan and the US representatives on August 2 took place against the backdrop of souring relationships, killing of Osama bin Laden and President Barak Obama's 2014 withdrawal plan.

The US-Pakistan deal is as simple as it can get: Pakistan will cooperate with the US to hunt Al Qaeda and in return the US will not annihilate the Taliban which serves Pakistani strategic interests in the region.

How nasty can the US get with Pakistan?