JD Vance India Visit: Can US VP Placate India About Tariffs, Student Visas?
US Vice-President JD Vance held talks with PM Modi on Monday evening at the latter's residence.
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US Vice-President JD Vance – colloquially called Donald Trump's 'attack dog' due to his outspoken and confrontational nature – held talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the latter's residence on Monday, 21 April.
"Pleased to welcome US VP JD Vance and his family in New Delhi," PM Modi took to X to say late on Monday.
The prime minister said that the two leaders reviewed the "fast-paced" progress made in ties following his visit to the US earlier this month during which he held talks with President Trump.
Vance, his wife Usha – who is of India origin, and their three children landed at New Delhi's Palam Technical Airport at around 10 AM on Monday for their 'semi-official' four-day visit to India.
Semi-official because Vance's itinerary includes visits to Jaipur and Agra for tourism-related engagements following discussions with Indian government officials.
What Makes Vance's Visit Significant
To start with, while high-level exchanges between India and the US have been quite common over the last few decades, US vice presidents visiting India is a rare sight.
"What makes the visit interesting is that Vance has become such a popular foreign policy face of the Trump administration," says Harsh V Pant, professor of international relations, while speaking to The Quint. "I think people will be watching what he says here and how he says it in particular."
The one aspect of Vance's personality which has become public knowledge since his term began in January is that he seldom holds back from making his opinion known on major foreign policy issues, and is quite the 'unlikely' diplomat. So much so that on a number of occasions, his speeches go into territories which surpass even President Trump's in terms of the absurd.
The most pertinent example of this was seen when he had a heated discussion with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the White House in February.
Similarly, during a visit to Munich in February, Vance had launched a blistering attack against European nations, accusing its leaders of dismantling free speech and failing to prevent illegal immigration. He also stated that the true threat to Europe was not from China or Russia, but from Europe's own retreat from its "most fundamental values".
"If you are afraid of the voices, the opinions and the conscience that guide your very own people, if you’re running in fear of your own voters, there is nothing America can do for you," Vance had said.
In another instance, Vance had doubled down on Trump's claim to Greenland – saying that it wasn't a question of if the US were to get authority over Greenland, but when.
Tariff Issue Looms Large
Regardless of how informal Vance's visit may be, it would be naivete to assume that India would not have brought up the issue of reciprocal tariffs – which, when implemented on 2 April, had wreaked havoc across global markets.
While Trump has announced a 90-day pause to the tariffs, India will certainly be in a hurry to get a trade pact inked before the deadline ends to avoid a major economic fallout with its largest trading partner.
The Indian government also seems to have been quite receptive to the US' objections as they had expressed willingness to cut tariffs on over half of US imports – worth $23 billion – as part of a trade deal which is in the offing between the two sides, a Reuters report had stated.
"There is no doubt that tariffs would have featured in the discussions between Indian government officials and Vance. After all, they got the opportunity to do so with a senior US official – the vice-president no less – and would have wanted to take all the advantages they could while they had his undivided attention," Manoj Joshi told The Quint.
Meanwhile, the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS), a farmers' body, opposed Vance's visit and called for nationwide protests on Monday, 21 April to oppose a possible trade deal between India and the US.
The AIKS, which is linked to the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and claims to be the largest peasant organisation in the country, stated that making agricultural goods a part of the trade deal will severely impact farmers' incomes. The farmers' body had also accused US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick of "coersion" after he asserted that India's agricultural sector cannot be "off the table" during negotiations for the trade pact.
Taking to X on Friday, 18 April, the AIKS called on all its state units to raise slogans such as 'Vance Go Back' and 'India Is Not For Sale'.
However, while tariffs would surely have been discussed, it is unlikely that the brass tacks of the trade pact would be finalised on Monday.
"Vance is not really the prominent voice of tariffs in the Trump administration," Joshi says.
Visa Revocation a New Thorn in Ties
Yet another issue which has plagued India-US ties of late has been President Trump's crackdown on foreign students, and particularly the cancellation of student visas.
According to the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), of the 327 visa cancellations that they have tracked of late, half have been those of Indian students.
While Secretary of State Marco Rubio had announced the 'Catch and Revoke' programme in March to cancel the student visas of those who have publicly been part of activities supporting Hamas or criticising Israel, reports suggest that the visas of several students have been cancelled due to petty issues, such as traffic violations.
Similarly, the AILA said in statement that US authorities have been aggressively targeting international students, including those with no protest history.
He adds that a public affirmation of the India-US relationship by Vance would be enough to placate India for the time being.
"There is nothing else that can be expected. Given how vocal and public Vance has been, I think him saying that would go a long away."
Vance and his family were welcomed by Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw at the Palam Airport on Monday, following which they visited the Swaminarayan Akshardham Temple in the national capital.
On Wednesday, 23 April, they will be visiting the Taj Mahal in Agra and an open-air crafts market named Shilpgram before flying back to Washington DC on Thursday, 24 April.