USIndoPacom reverts to USPacom: US-India ties in rupture or rift?

**Ravi Velloor** (0:02)
This is a podcast by The Straits Times.
Hello and welcome to Asian Insider. I'm Ravi Velloor, and my guest today is Professor Sumit Ganguly, a senior fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution. Professor Ganguly is Director of the Huntington Program on Strengthening US-India Relationship, and he is a leading expert in that area. Today, Professor Ganguly and I will be discussing the recent dynamics in the ties between Washington and New Delhi, which are widely seen to have hit severe turbulence in President Donald Trump's second term in office. So, welcome to Asian Insider, Professor Ganguly.

**Sumit Ganguly** (1:00)
Thank you very much for having me on the program.

**Ravi Velloor** (1:04)
Sumit, could we begin with the latest move by the Pentagon to rename the US Indo-Pacific Command back to the original Pacific Command? I saw a recent commentary by Admiral James Stavridis, the former head of NATO forces, and he said that this will go down poorly in New Delhi. What did you make of that name change?

**Sumit Ganguly** (1:34)
It has already gone down poorly in New Delhi.
There has been a significant amount of commentary on the subject by informed journalists and political analysts. The government has mostly maintained a studious silence on the subject, but it is of concern to New Delhi. I know that from having spoken to senior officials, obviously in an anonymous capacity, they are putting up a brave front because they do not want to disturb the relationship any further, but nevertheless, it is a source of unhappiness.

**Ravi Velloor** (2:21)
Why do you think the United States did that?

**Sumit Ganguly** (2:25)
It may be because in the wake of Trump's visit to Beijing, he wants to signal to Beijing that the US is not going to maintain an adversarial presence in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, and that its focus will primarily remain in East Asia, Japan, Taiwan and the like, but not really in the Indian Ocean littoral.
India had been cooperating quite extensively in naval exercises with the United States ever since the 2004 Christmas Tsunami. And since then, the band of cooperation had steadily increased over the years across administrations. And in the Trump administration, the Pacific Command had been changed to the Indo-Pacific Command. So this shift probably does signal the reduced importance of India in the maritime domain, in the Indian Ocean in particular.

**Ravi Velloor** (3:43)
I see.
If I'm not mistaken, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was perhaps the fourth world leader to call on Trump. After he took office this time. And if you were to use Mr. Modi's visit to the White House in February 2025 as a starting point, how would you describe the relationship and where it is today?

**Sumit Ganguly** (4:09)
The relationship has suffered a series of body blows ever since about May of 2025, following the terrorist attack, widely believed to be the actions of a organization, an offshoot of a terrorist organization based in Pakistan, the Lashkar-e-Taiba. And in the wake of that, India launched what was a military operation called Operation Sindur and breached certain previous red lines by striking actually into Pakistani territory, not simply crossing the line of control, the de facto international border in the disputed state of Jammu and Kashmir. And Pakistan, of course, retaliated with considerable force and with assistance now publicly professed by the People's Republic of China.
And the intense fighting lasted only for about four days. And Trump insisted that it was his threat of the use of tariffs on India and Pakistan that brought the conflict to a close. Indians who are allergic to any notion of foreign intervention in the Kashmir dispute between itself and Pakistan, categorically denied that Trump had played any role in dampening tensions and ending the conflict. And in the meanwhile, Pakistan seized upon that moment and said not only had Trump played a critical role, but also nominated him for the Nobel Prize.
Almost immediately thereafter, relations between India and the United States took a precipitously bad turn with Trump weaponizing tariffs all the way up to 50% ostensibly because India was buying large amounts of Russian oil, even when China was buying considerably greater amounts of oil. And since then, there has been Pakistan's growing role in the crisis between Iran, Israel and the United States, all of which have redounded to India's disadvantage.

**Ravi Velloor** (6:48)
Right. Before we come to the recent Iran conflict, Sumit, if I'm not mistaken, the Liberation Day tariffs came before Operation Sindor in May. Am I not correct in saying that?

**Sumit Ganguly** (7:03)
Yes, but they significantly increased thereafter, all the way up to 50% amongst some of the highest in the world. The initial tariff was about 25%.