14 January 2026

India is a priority partner for the US in Central and Eastern Europe

Kirk Shoemaker

Increasing friction between the United States and India in recent months risks fracturing a relationship that is too important to fail. As an emerging economic colossus, India is a critical trading partner for the US and an economic counterweight to China in Central and Eastern Europe.

To help India on its path to economic diversification and to ensure it serves as a counterbalance to China, the US and its European partners should incentivise mutually beneficial trade and investment between India and the Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs). As America’s biggest rival, China is making inroads with the CEECs. India provides a key economic counterweight that will bolster the strategic depth of the US and its allies.

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