'Get US-India Ties Back On Track': Nikki Haley Issues Strong China Warning to Trump

In the midst of the Trump regime's punitive tariffs on India for its unabated Russian oil purchases, former US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley has cautioned that the bilateral relationship between Washington and New Delhi is at a breaking point. She emphasized that strong ties need to be restored if the United States is to challenge China's growing influence globally.

In a Newsweek op-ed on Wednesday, Haley maintained India shouldn't be treated as an enemy like China, and issues like tariffs or the US's participation in India-Pakistan ceasefire talks shouldn't erode the connection between two of the world's biggest democracies.

Recent weeks have seen a rapid escalation in India-US tensions. The Trump administration imposed a 25 percent tariff on India for buying Russian oil, adding to the 25 percent duty already levied on Indian goods. These measures followed months of growing friction, particularly over New Delhi’s refusal to recognize the US role in mediating India-Pakistan ceasefire talks.

"To fulfill the Trump administration's foreign policy objectives—beating China and winning peace through strength—few tasks are more important than getting America-India relations back on course," Haley wrote.

While a Republican and Trump supporter, Haley has publicly criticized him while supporting his 2024 presidential campaign. She pointed out that "India must be treated like the prized free and democratic partner that it is—not an adversary like China, which has thus far avoided sanctions for its Russian oil purchases, despite being one of Moscow's largest customers."

Haley warned that "scuttling 25 years of momentum with the only country that can act as a counterweight to Chinese domination of Asia would be a strategic disaster."

In the near term, she stressed that New Delhi is a central player in enabling the US to relocate key supply chains out of China. "While the Trump administration is trying to bring factories back home, India is unique in its ability to produce at a China-like scale for items that can't be made here quickly or at an efficient cost, such as textiles, cheap phones, and solar panels."

She also referred to India's growing defense collaborations with Washington's allies, including Israel, and said New Delhi is not only an essential market for US defense hardware but also an asset for the security of the free world.

Haley also underscored India's increasing role in the Middle East as a possibly pivotal force in stabilizing the region as the US pulls back troops and financial investments. She continued by stating that India's strategic location on China's vital trade and energy corridors could curtail Beijing's scope of action in the case of a major conflict.

"In the longer run, India's importance is even deeper. With over a sixth of the human population, India became the most populous nation in the world in 2023, with a youthful labor force that contrasts with China's elderly one," she said.

Taking cognizance of India's lightning-fast economic growth, Haley referred to its rise as "the most consequential geopolitical event since China's," posing one of the greatest challenges to Beijing's aspirations to redefine the world order.

"Quite simply, China's ambitions will have to recede as India's stature increases. But whereas Communist-ruled China's rise is a threat to the free world, the emergence of a democratic India is not," she said.

Nimrata Nikki Randhawa Haley was the 29th US ambassador to the United Nations from January 2017 through December 2018 under Trump's first term, and she was the first Indian American to serve in a presidential cabinet.

Nikki Haley Pushes for Trump-PM Modi Meeting, Calls It an "Urgent Priority" for India-US Relations

Terming the US-India alliance as a "no-brainer" in order to take on China, Republican and ex-US envoy to the UN Nikki Haley cautioned Washington against it. She said it would be a "a massive mistake" to allow trade frictions with New Delhi to escalate into "a lasting rupture." In an op-ed in Newsweek published on Wednesday, she warned that any deterioration in India-US relations would create a window of opportunity for the Chinese Communist Party to play both nations against one another.

Haley stressed that the top priority for the United States should be restoring the India-US relationship and called for a direct meeting between President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"Partnership between the US and India to counter China should be a no-brainer.It would serve America's interests to help India stand up to its increasingly aggressive northern neighbour, both economically and militarily," she said.

".It would be a huge—and avoidable—blunder to inflate a trade row between India and the United States into a lasting breach. If that occurred, the Chinese Communist Party would not hesitate to play India and the United States against each other," Haley said.

She also asked India to heed Trump's worries over Russian oil and cooperate with the White House to find a solution. The Trump administration has slapped 25 percent tariffs on India for buying Russian oil, in addition to the 25 percent duty already on Indian products.

Haley underscored that the US has to make repairing the relationship a priority and allocate higher-level attention and resources to India, "even what the US allocates to China or Israel."

".The immediate priority should be to stop the downward spiral, which will involve direct dialogue between President Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The sooner the better," she wrote.

She warned Washington not to forget the larger picture—India and America's common goal of balancing China's expanding footprint around the world.

"A few decades of friendship and goodwill between the world's two largest democracies offer a sound foundation to get beyond today's turbulence. Working through tough issues such as trade disputes and Russian oil purchases takes tough talk, but tough talk is the indication of an increasing partnership. To confront China, the United States needs to have a friend in India," she said.

Haley had run against Donald Trump in the 2024 Republican primaries, coming second, before supporting him for the 2024 presidential campaign, although she remained a vocal critic of his policies throughout his second term.