Relocating India in the ‘America First’ Grand Strategy

(Gautam Chikermane – Observer Research Foundation) The United States’ November 2025 articulation of the country’s national security strategy locates New Delhi in its ambitions. Raisina Hill is countering this by opening doors wider with defining economic engagements that potentially number 50. This paper argues that locating India in the US grand strategy map is a risky venture given the apparent disconnect between what the US says and how it behaves. A new equilibrium requires Trump and Modi to carve out strategic spaces for each other, using economic growth as a unifying, mutually beneficial endeavour, power as a tool to secure strategic interests, and the Quad platform to bridge the two. – Relocating India in the ‘America First’ Grand Strategy