India – U.S. Joint Statement: The President of the United States, The Honorable Donald J. Trump, hosted the Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi, for an Official Working Visit in Washington, DC, on February 13, 2025.
- As leaders of sovereign and vibrant democracies that prioritize freedom, the rule of law, human rights, and pluralism, President Trump and Prime Minister Modi reaffirmed the strength of the India-U.S. Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership, rooted in mutual trust, shared interests, goodwill, and robust citizen engagement.
- Today, President Trump and Prime Minister Modi launched an innovative initiative – the “U.S.-India COMPACT (Catalyzing Opportunities for Military Partnership, Accelerated Commerce & Technology) for the 21st Century” – aimed at driving transformative change across essential pillars of cooperation. They committed to a results-driven agenda, with initial outcomes anticipated this year to showcase the level of trust within their mutually beneficial partnership.
Defense
- Emphasizing the evolving convergence of U.S.-India strategic interests, the leaders reaffirmed their steadfast commitment to a dynamic defense partnership across multiple domains. To further enhance defense ties, they announced plans to sign a new ten-year Framework for the U.S.-India Major Defense Partnership in the 21st Century this year.
- The leaders acknowledged the significant incorporation of U.S.-origin defense items into India’s inventory, including C-130J Super Hercules, C-17 Globemaster III, P-8I Poseidon aircraft, CH-47F Chinooks, MH-60R Seahawks, and AH-64E Apaches; Harpoon anti-ship missiles; M777 howitzers; and MQ-9Bs. They agreed to expand defense sales and co-production with India to bolster interoperability and defense industrial cooperation. Plans were announced to pursue new procurements and co-production arrangements within India for “Javelin” Anti-Tank Guided Missiles and “Stryker” Infantry Combat Vehicles to meet India’s defense needs efficiently. They also expect to finalize procurement for six additional P-8I Maritime Patrol aircraft to enhance India’s maritime surveillance capabilities in the Indian Ocean Region following the agreement on sale terms.
- Acknowledging India’s status as a Major Defense Partner with Strategic Trade Authorization-1 (STA-1) and a key Quad partner, the U.S. and India will review their arms transfer regulations, including International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), to streamline defense trade, technology exchange, maintenance, spare parts, and in-country repair for U.S.-provided defense systems. They will initiate negotiations for a Reciprocal Defense Procurement (RDP) agreement this year to better align procurement systems and facilitate mutual supply of defense goods and services. The leaders pledged to accelerate defense technology cooperation across space, air defense, missile systems, maritime, and undersea technologies, with the U.S. announcing a review of its policy regarding the release of fifth-generation fighters and underwater systems to India.
- Building on the U.S.-India Roadmap for Defense Industrial Cooperation and recognizing the growing significance of autonomous systems, the leaders announced the Autonomous Systems Industry Alliance (ASIA) to scale industry partnerships and production within the Indo-Pacific. They welcomed new partnerships between Anduril Industries and Mahindra Group for advanced autonomous technologies to develop state-of-the-art maritime systems and AI-enabled counter Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS). Additionally, a collaboration was established between L3 Harris and Bharat Electronics for the co-development of active towed array systems.
- The leaders pledged to enhance military cooperation across all domains – air, land, sea, space, and cyberspace – through advanced training, exercises, and operations incorporating cutting-edge technologies. They welcomed the upcoming “Tiger Triumph” tri-service exercise, first inaugurated in 2019, to be hosted in India with greater scale and complexity.
- Finally, the leaders committed to break new ground for supporting and sustaining the overseas deployments of the U.S. and Indian militaries in the Indo-Pacific, including enhanced logistics and intelligence sharing, alongside improving force mobility for joint humanitarian and disaster relief operations, and other exchanges and security cooperation efforts.
Trade and Investment
- The leaders resolved to expand trade and investment to foster prosperity, strengthen nations, stimulate innovative economies, and enhance supply chain resilience. They committed to deepening the U.S.-India trade relationship to nurture growth that promotes fairness, national security, and job creation. To this end, they set a bold new goal for bilateral trade – “Mission 500” – aiming to exceed $500 billion in total bilateral trade by 2030.
- Recognizing that achieving this level of ambition necessitates new, fair-trade terms, they announced plans to negotiate the first tranche of a mutually beneficial, multi-sector Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) by fall of 2025. The leaders committed to assigning senior representatives to advance these negotiations and ensure the trade relationship mirrors the aspirations of the COMPACT. They will pursue an integrated approach to enhancing bilateral trade across goods and services, aiming to increase market access, reduce tariff and non-tariff barriers, and deepen supply chain integration.
- The leaders celebrated initial steps demonstrating their mutual commitment to address bilateral trade barriers. The United States welcomed India’s recent measures to reduce tariffs on U.S. products such as bourbon, motorcycles, ICT products, and metals, in addition to improving market access for U.S. agricultural products like alfalfa hay, duck meat, and medical devices. India expressed gratitude for U.S. measures to facilitate exports of Indian mangoes and pomegranates. Both nations pledged to collaborate on increasing U.S. exports of industrial goods to India and Indian exports of labor-intensive manufactured products to the United States, along with joint efforts to boost agricultural trade.
- Lastly, the leaders committed to driving opportunities for U.S. and Indian companies to engage in greenfield investments in high-value industries in each other’s countries. They welcomed ongoing investments by Indian companies, amounting to approximately $7.35 billion, including those by Hindalco’s Novelis in aluminum manufacturing in Alabama and Kentucky; JSW in steel operations in Texas and Ohio; Epsilon Advanced Materials in critical battery material production in North Carolina; and Jubilant Pharma in injectable manufacturing in Washington, contributing to over 3,000 high-quality local jobs.
Energy Security
- The leaders acknowledged that energy security is vital for economic growth, social well-being, and technical innovation in both nations. They emphasized the significance of U.S.-India collaboration to ensure energy affordability, reliability, availability, and market stability. Acknowledging their roles as leading producers and consumers in the global energy arena, they reaffirmed their commitment to the U.S.-India Energy Security Partnership, encompassing oil, gas, and civil nuclear energy.
- The leaders stressed the need to enhance hydrocarbon production to secure better global energy prices and provide affordable energy access to their citizens. They recognized the value of strategic petroleum reserves for economic stability during crises and resolved to collaborate with key partners to expand strategic oil reserve arrangements. In this context, the U.S. expressed strong support for India’s accession to full membership in the International Energy Agency.
- The leaders reaffirmed their commitment to increasing energy trade to ensure energy security and establish the U.S. as a primary supplier of crude oil, petroleum products, and liquified natural gas for India, aligned with the evolving needs of both economies. They highlighted significant opportunities to boost trade in the hydrocarbon sector, including natural gas, ethane, and petroleum products, in efforts to diversify supply and enhance energy security. They committed to increasing investments, particularly in oil and gas infrastructure, and promoting cooperation between energy companies from both countries.
- The leaders announced their dedication to fully implementing the U.S.-India 123 Civil Nuclear Agreement, collaborating to construct U.S.-designed nuclear reactors in India through large-scale localization and potential technology transfer. They welcomed India’s recent Budget announcement to amend the Atomic Energy Act and the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act (CLNDA) to facilitate the collaboration of Indian and U.S. industries in nuclear reactor production and deployment. This cooperative path will unlock plans for large U.S.-designed reactors and enable joint efforts to develop and scale up nuclear power generation using advanced small modular reactors.
- The leaders unveiled the U.S.-India TRUST (“Transforming the Relationship Utilizing Strategic Technology”) initiative, designed to spur collaboration between government entities, academia, and the private sector for the application of critical and emerging technologies in defense, artificial intelligence, semiconductors, quantum computing, biotechnology, energy, and space, while ensuring the protection of sensitive technologies and the use of verified vendors.
- A central element of the “TRUST” initiative involves working with U.S. and Indian industries to produce a U.S.-India Roadmap on Accelerating AI Infrastructure by year’s end, identifying challenges to financing, building, powering, and connecting large-scale U.S.-origin AI infrastructure in India, alongside setting milestones and future actions. The two countries will collaborate to foster industry partnerships and investments in state-of-the-art data centers, cooperation in developing and accessing compute and processors for AI, and innovations that support societal solutions, while addressing necessary protections and regulatory controls.
- The leaders announced the launch of INDUS Innovation, a new innovation bridge modeled after the successful INDUS-X platform, aimed at advancing U.S.-India industry and academic collaborations and fostering investments in space, energy, and other emerging technologies to sustain U.S.-India leadership in innovation and meet 21st-century needs. They reiterated their commitment to the INDUS-X initiative, facilitating partnerships among U.S. and Indian defense firms, investors, and universities to deliver critical capabilities for their militaries, and looked forward to the next summit in 2025.
- As part of the TRUST initiative, the leaders committed to constructing trusted and resilient supply chains for semiconductors, critical minerals, advanced materials, and pharmaceuticals. They plan to encourage public and private investments to increase Indian manufacturing capacity, including in the U.S., for active pharmaceutical ingredients for essential medications. Such investments will create quality jobs, diversify vital supply chains, and mitigate the risk of critical drug shortages in both countries.
- Recognizing the strategic importance of critical minerals for emerging technologies and advanced manufacturing, the U.S. and India will expedite collaboration in research and development and stimulate investment across the entire critical mineral value chain through the Mineral Security Partnership, in which both are participants. They pledged to enhance efforts to deepen cooperation in the exploration, beneficiation, processing, and recycling of critical minerals. Consequently, they announced the launch of the Strategic Mineral Recovery initiative, a new U.S.-India program aimed at recovering and processing critical minerals (such as lithium, cobalt, and rare earth elements) from industries like aluminum, coal mining, and oil and gas.
- The leaders announced that 2025 would mark a breakthrough year for U.S.-India civil space cooperation, with plans for a NASA-ISRO collaboration through AXIOM to send the first Indian astronaut to the International Space Station (ISS) and for the early launch of the “NISAR” mission, pioneering in systematically mapping Earth’s surface changes with dual radars. They called for heightened collaboration in space exploration, including long-duration human spaceflight missions, safety protocols, and sharing expertise in emerging areas like planetary protection. Furthermore, they committed to advancing commercial space partnerships through industry engagements in both conventional and budding domains such as connectivity, advanced spaceflight, satellite systems, sustainability, space tourism, and innovative manufacturing.
- Emphasizing the value of strengthening ties between U.S. and Indian scientific communities, the leaders announced a partnership between the U.S. National Science Foundation and the Indian Anusandhan National Research Foundation to explore critical and emerging technologies. This collaboration builds on ongoing initiatives aimed at fostering joint research in semiconductors, connected vehicles, machine learning, next-generation telecommunications, intelligent transportation, and future biomanufacturing.
- The leaders concluded that their governments should intensify efforts to address export controls, enhance high-tech commerce, and diminish barriers to technology transfer between the two nations while ensuring technology security. They also committed to work together to tackle unfair practices in export controls from third parties attempting to exploit vulnerabilities in critical supply chains.
Multilateral Cooperation
- The leaders reiterated that a close U.S.-India partnership is pivotal to a free, open, peaceful, and prosperous Indo-Pacific region. As Quad partners, they acknowledged that their cooperation is anchored in ASEAN centrality, adherence to international law and governance, support for safe navigation and lawful sea usage, unimpeded commerce, and peaceful dispute resolution through international law.
- Prime Minister Modi looks forward to welcoming President Trump in New Delhi for the Quad leaders’ Summit, prior to which the leaders will activate new Quad initiatives focused on shared airlift capacity for civilian natural disaster responses and maritime patrols to enhance interoperability.
- The leaders committed to boosting cooperation, enhancing diplomatic discussions, and increasing collaboration with partners in the Middle East. They recognized the significance of investing in critical infrastructure and economic corridors to promote regional peace and security. They plan to convene partners from the India-Middle East-Europe Corridor and the I2U2 Group in the next six months to unveil new initiatives in 2025.
- The U.S. acknowledges India’s role as a developmental, humanitarian assistance, and net security provider in the Indian Ocean Region. In this context, the leaders pledged to advance bilateral dialogue and cooperation throughout the Indian Ocean, launching the Indian Ocean Strategic Venture, a comprehensive bilateral forum designed to drive coordinated investments in economic connectivity and commerce. Supporting greater connectivity in the Indian Ocean, the leaders welcomed Meta’s announcement of a multi-billion-dollar, multi-year undersea cable project set to commence this year, extending over 50,000 km to link five continents and enhance global digital infrastructure. India aims to invest in the maintenance, repair, and financing of undersea cables in the Indian Ocean, utilizing trusted partners.
- The leaders recognized the necessity of developing new plurilateral partnerships in the Western Indian Ocean, Middle East, and Indo-Pacific to strengthen relationships, commerce, and cooperation across defense, technology, energy, and critical minerals. They expect to propose new partnership initiatives for these regions by fall 2025.
- The leaders also committed to advancing military cooperation in multinational environments to promote global peace and security. They commended India’s decision to embrace a future leadership role in the Combined Maritime Forces naval task force to safeguard sea routes in the Arabian Sea.
- The leaders reaffirmed their collective stance that the global threat of terrorism must be addressed, and safe havens for terrorists eliminated globally. They pledged to enhance cooperation against threats from groups like Al-Qa’ida, ISIS, Jaish-e Mohammad, and Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, to prevent devastating attacks similar to those in Mumbai on 26/11 and the Abbey Gate bombing in Afghanistan on August 26, 2021. Recognizing their mutual commitment to bring perpetrators to justice, the U.S. announced the approved extradition of Tahawwur Rana to India. The leaders urged Pakistan to swiftly bring those responsible for the 26/11 Mumbai and Pathankot attacks to justice and ensure its territory is not used for cross-border terrorist activities. Furthermore, they pledged to collaborate in preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their delivery mechanisms, ensuring such weapons remain inaccessible to terrorists and non-state actors.
People to People Cooperation
- President Trump and Prime Minister Modi acknowledged the vital importance of fostering people-to-people relations between their countries. They recognized the substantial contributions of the over 300,000 strong Indian student community, which adds more than $8 billion annually to the U.S. economy and generates numerous jobs. They noted that the exchange of talent, including students, researchers, and professionals, has yielded mutual benefits for both nations. Both leaders committed to enhancing collaborations among higher education institutions through strategies like joint/dual degree programs, establishing joint Centers of Excellence, and setting up offshore campuses of prominent U.S. educational institutions in India.
- Emphasizing the evolving global workplace, the leaders agreed on the necessity of establishing innovative, mutually advantageous, secure mobility frameworks. Consequently, they committed to streamlining legal avenues for student and professional mobility, facilitating short-term travel for tourism and business while addressing illegal immigration and human trafficking vigorously by taking decisive action against bad actors, criminal facilitators, and illegal immigration networks to enhance mutual security.
- The leaders resolved to bolster law enforcement cooperation to tackle illegal immigration networks, organized crime syndicates including narco-terrorism, human and arms trafficking, and other threats against public and diplomatic safety and security and the sovereignty of both nations.
- President Trump and Prime Minister Modi pledged to maintain high-level engagement between their governments, industries, and academic institutions, and to realize their ambitious vision for a lasting India-U.S. partnership that meets the aspirations of their people for a bright and prosperous future, serves global interests, and contributes to a free and open Indo-Pacific.
Washington DC