Washington: As soon as China extended its hand to grab America's collar, Donald Trump remembered India. The Trump administration has signed America's annual defense policy, in which it has been said to have a major engagement with India in the year 2026. Trump has signed this policy at a time when he himself has imposed a 50 percent tariff on Indian imports and takes credit for repeatedly brokering ceasefires in the war with Pakistan, which Delhi denies. America's Defense Policy 2026, signed by Donald Trump, includes promoting a free and open Indo-Pacific through QUAD and facing challenges coming from China.
In fact, US President Donald Trump has signed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for the financial year 2026 and given it legal form. In this, special emphasis has been laid on expanding bilateral and multilateral military partnership with India in the next year, i.e. 2026. Under the NDAA, America has made a provision to spend about $ 900 billion on defense and security. In this law, priority has been given to maintaining a 'free and open Indo-Pacific region', which is being seen as a response to China's aggressive policies.
Will Donald Trump come to India for Quad in 2026?
India was to host the QUAD meeting this year, for which Donald Trump had to come to India. But he caused considerable damage to relations with India by imposing tariffs on Delhi and increasing relations with Pakistan. Due to which the Quad meeting to be held in Delhi in 2025 was postponed. But if we look deeply into the NDAA law, it comes to light that Trump can reactivate the Quad, hence the question is whether he will come to India for the Quad meeting? The NDAA clearly states that the US should increase cooperation with its allies and partner countries in the Indo-Pacific region in areas such as military exercises, defense trade, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.
In the NDAA, India has been considered an important pillar in America's Indo-Pacific strategy. The law talks about increasing engagement with India through Quad. Let us tell you that Quad includes India, America, Japan and Australia and its objective is to counter China's growing influence and aggressive attitude in the Indo-Pacific. Recently, the Quad countries also successfully completed their first joint field training exercise at Andersen Air Force Base in Guam, which is being considered a major step towards regional security cooperation.
Will Trump be able to control the damage in spoiled relations with India?
The point is not what is in and what is not in the NDAA Act, the question is that given how bad Trump has made the relationship with India this year, is it possible to bring the relationship back on track, control the damage and most importantly, win the trust of India? The NDAA law has been passed at a time when the White House, in its national security strategy released two weeks ago, had described India and Japan as countries playing an important role in maintaining the balance against China. The NDAA directs the US Defense Secretary to strengthen partnerships to maintain America's strategic edge in the Indo-Pacific region.
The law also includes provisions regarding US-India nuclear cooperation, under which there will be a joint review of the implementation of the 2008 civil nuclear agreement. A strict stance has also been adopted in the NDAA regarding the BRICS group. It says that America's adversary countries are trying to weaken American influence through multilateral groups like BRICS. While on one hand India is an important member of Quad, on the other hand it is also a part of BRICS. In such a situation, it will be interesting to see what strategy Donald Trump will adopt next year.
