In the past year, two legal issues have put the growing relationship between India and the United States at its highest level.

As the two sides are announcing huge increases in defense and technological capabilities, US critics have criticized the Indian government delegation. plotting to kill American citizen on US soil.

A few months later, the Department of Justice filed fraud and corruption charges against India’s most influential businessmen, whose businesses have soared on the back of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s power.

However, the relationship still exists. After years of mutual suspicion between the two countries, said Eric Garcetti, the outgoing US ambassador to India, nothing seems to be straining their relationship and a testament to their strength.

“I don’t think there’s anything that could derail the US-India relationship,” Garcetti said Saturday in an interview with the embassy in New Delhi, two days before President Biden and Donald Trump leave office. J. Trump was sworn in as his successor.

“This is permanent and inevitable,” Garcetti added. “It’s movement and progress that’s inevitable, as we get there faster.”

The Biden administration’s escalation of relations with India came after nearly two decades of efforts to resolve Cold War-era tensions that culminated in US sanctions over India’s nuclear program in 1998.

Washington sees great potential in India as a counter to China. Once the world’s largest democracy, India will overtake China as the world’s most populous country in 2023. India’s demographics and technological prowess can help diversify global supply chains away from China, which is a priority for the United States. States and other large countries.

Now comes Trump’s second presidency, with his America-first ideals and threats of low tariffs on trading partners. While many world leaders are not afraid, Indian officials insist they are not among them.

S. Jaishankar, the foreign minister, said India had a “good political relationship with Trump” that he hoped would grow. While attending the opening of the US embassy on Friday in Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore, Jaishankar quoted Modi as saying that the two countries were overcoming “historic doubts.”

Mr Modi has developed a strong relationship with Mr Trump, an important factor given the President’s approach to international relations. During Trump’s first term, Modi hosted him at a large rally in his home state of Gujarat, and at a large gathering in Texas of the Indian diaspora – a significant expansion of India’s influence in American politics.

But some experts have warned that Trump’s lack of visibility and strategy could pose a threat to India.

Two issues in particular are worth testing this relationship for, and maybe soon. During the campaign, Mr. Trump accused India of gaining trade advantage by keeping large reserves. And India could be swayed by the conflict if Trump follows through on his promise to deport more immigrants.

Native Americans are the third largest immigrant group in the United States, according to a Pew Research In the middle. If Mr. Trump sends more Indians to his country, it will be a huge embarrassment for Mr. Modi.

Amita Batra, a New Delhi-based economist and trade expert, said India should see some evidence in Mr. his first administration was established.

“Maybe you can say that we have a good relationship with Trump, we have an easy relationship with the United States, but how Trump sees that at a certain time is a different question,” said Dr. Batra at an event at the Center for Social. and Economic Development in New Delhi. “India should approach Trump 2.0 very carefully.”

During the interview, Mr. Garcetti described the bilateral agreement as “the most compelling, difficult and consequential” in both countries.

The former Democratic mayor of Los Angeles, Garcetti arrived in New Delhi in April 2023, after the job had been vacant for two years. His confirmation hit a wall due to accusations that he ignored allegations of sexual harassment by an aide while he was mayor.

He made up for lost time with a burst of energy and communication as a campaign politician.

They were everywhere, from cricket grounds to restaurants to cultural programs. Sporting a leather jacket, he got behind the piano to open for jazz legends Herbie Hancock and Dianne Reeves, who came to perform at the Piano Man Jazz Club in New Delhi..

But that’s when Mr. Garcetti tried his hand dancing to Bollywood music during the Diwali festival, the relations between the two countries faced major hurdles.

In India, right-wing trolls seized on US charges of complicity with the Indian government in a plot to kill an American citizen advocating separatism in India. That, along with the US case of Gautam Adani, a trade executive, was evidence that the United States was trying to slow down India’s inevitable rise, patriotic voices on the Internet argued.

The Biden administration seems to want to keep quiet about the massacre in New Delhi, wanting to respond without letting it get too serious.

“On Capitol Hill, inside the White House, I think with those who know it was a real time to reflect and take a break,” Garcetti said of the murder case. “It did not stop the interest – you know, relations between countries are always different and at the same time not only between governments. But I think it was an immediate check.”

Garcetti said the Biden administration was encouraged by India’s response. New Delhi accepted the US’s demands, he said, “not just for a response but for reforming the system and ensuring that this will not happen again.”

An Indian government inquiry that ended last week recommended that an unnamed person take action against “former terrorists”. It said the project “must be completed quickly,” which analysts saw as an attempt to start the Trump era with a clean slate.

“If we want to cooperate in some areas that are important to us, to share knowledge, etc., trust is the basis of everything,” said Mr. Garcetti. But I am very disappointed with the way trust grows in times of trouble.

One question that is growing between the two countries is whether India will emerge as an alternative to China in the global supply chain – something Mr. Garcetti also wondered.

India has reaped only a fraction of the windfall from China, with businesses favoring places like Vietnam, Taiwan and Mexico, where it is easier to set up jobs and where costs are lower.

Mr. Garcetti said India made a remarkable leap after opening up its economy in the 1990s, many years behind China. He took his iPhone to show the latest success: About 15 percent of iPhone manufacturing now takes place in Indiaa number that could continue to grow rapidly, he said.

However, by and large, India still struggles to attract foreign investment, despite infrastructure reforms and regulatory reforms. Manufacturing is not growing fast enough to bring much-needed jobs to India.

“Where India is leaving significant progress with jobs and growth on the table is finding a better way to generate unlimited investment here to make it happen,” Garcetti said. “Because it’s still, you know, for a lot of manufacturing, one of the cheapest things.”

“They’re not wrong to look at it and say it was 95 percent worse,” Garcetti said. “But if 5 percent is still twice your competition or 10 times your competition — companies, you know, are like water. They flow where gravity takes them.”