Vice President JD Vance said from India’s northwestern city of Jaipur on Tuesday that India and the U.S. can build a “prosperous and peaceful” future for the world — but if they fail to work together, “the 21st Century could be a very dark time for all of humanity.”
Vance praised India’s vitality and resilience in contrast to the “sameness and flatness” that have afflicted some Western nations. He was particularly critical of doomsday environmentalist ideology:
There’s a vitality to India, a sense of infinite possibility, of new homes to be built, new skylines to be raised, and lives to be enriched. And there’s a pride in being Indian, a feeling of excitement about the days that lie ahead. It’s a striking contrast with too many in the West, where some in our leadership class seem stricken by self-doubt and even fear of the future. To them, humanity is always one bad decision away from catastrophe. The world will soon end, they tell us, because we’re burning too much fuel or making too many things or having too many children. And so rather than invest in the future, they too often retreat from it.
Some of them pass laws that force their nations to use less power. They cancel nuclear and other energy generation facilities, even as their choices, the choices of these leaders, lead to more dependence on foreign adversaries. Meanwhile, their message to their friends, to countries like India, is to tell them that they’re not allowed to grow.
Vance predicted President Donald Trump’s tariffs would “rebalance” global trade, producing “great benefits for the people of India.” He said Trump’s vision for America as a renewed industrial power is similar to Modi’s vision for India, and he castigated “prior administrations” for approaching Modi with attitudes of “preachiness” and “condescension.”
“We want to build a bright new world, one that’s constantly innovating, one that’s helping people to form families, making it easier to build, invest, and trade together in pursuit of common goals,” he said.
Vance said the U.S. is also eager to sell India energy and to help it develop its own offshore energy resources and nuclear power. He also praised India’s growing coordination with the United States on defense.
“America’s partners need not look exactly like America, nor must our governments do everything exactly the same way. But we should have some common goals. And I believe here in India, we do, in both economics and in national security,” he said.
“From Javelins to Striker combat vehicles, our nations will co-produce many of the munitions and equipment that we’ll need to deter foreign aggressors, not because we seek war but because we seek peace and we believe the best path to peace is through mutual strength,” he said.
The vice president arrived in India on Monday for four days of tours and meetings, beginning with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He traveled in the company of his children and his wife Usha, to whom he jovially turned during his speech in Jaipur to ask for help pronouncing some elaborate Indian names.
U.S. officials downplayed expectations that Vance would make major progress toward a bilateral trade agreement with India during his trip, but in his Jaipur speech, the vice president strongly hinted that progress was being made. At several points in his speech he hinted that U.S. energy exports to India could be the element that brings it all together.
Vance tipped his cap to both Trump and Modi as “tough negotiators” who would not rush into a deal.
“We don’t blame Prime Minister Modi for fighting for India’s industry, but we do blame American leaders of the past for failing to do the same for our workers. We believe that we can fix that to the mutual benefit of both the U.S. and India,” he said.
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