Editor's note: Ashok Sajjanhar is the president of the Institute of Global Studies in India, and former Indian ambassador to Kazakhstan, Sweden, and Latvia. The article reflects the author's views, and not necessarily those of CGTN.

Relations between India and the US over much of the period since India became independent in 1947 have been tense.

Former US Ambassador Dennis Kux wrote about the historical evolution of these relations in 1994 in his perceptive book titled "India and the United States: Estranged Democracies". This book explained the divergent interests of the two countries during the Cold War years which kept them apart from each other.

Bilateral relations started moving on the upward trajectory in March 2000 with the visit of then President Bill Clinton to India. This was the first visit by a US president after President Jimmy Carter visited India in 1978.

The last 18 years have witnessed a betterment in bilateral ties.

The election of Donald Trump as US president in November 2016 introduced considerable uncertainty in the future progress of bilateral relations. The most important reason was that Trump was an unknown actor, not having held any official position or represented the people in any capacity.

During the election campaign, Trump was quite critical of India on account of the substantial deficit that US suffers in its commercial exchanges with India and the "abuse" of H1B visas by Indian software professionals due to which young Americans were losing jobs.

One of the early statements made by Trump against India was on June 1, 2017 while withdrawing from the Paris Accord on climate change. He then charged that India "receives billions and billions and billions of dollars in foreign aid from developed countries."  

In the same breath, he noted that "under the agreement, China will be able to increase these emissions by a staggering number of years - thirteen." He referred to India a couple of times along with China while justifying his decision to exit the accord. Coming just before Prime Minister Narendra Modi's first visit to Washington DC after Trump came into office, it cast a pall of gloom over preparations for the visit.

Similar allegations have been made in recent months also.

India now faces the very real risk of sanctions by the US because of its purchase of the S-400 Triumph anti-ballistic missile defense system costing around six billion US dollars from Russia, the agreement for which was signed during a summit between Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Delhi on October 5 this year.

The Provisions of Countering America's Adversaries through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), enacted by the US Congress in August 2017, inter alia deal "with sanctions on Russian interests such as its oil and gas industry, defense and security sector, and financial institutions." The US president can impose sanctions on persons engaged in a "significant transaction" with the Russian defense and intelligence sectors. India has gone ahead with the purchase of this system notwithstanding the threats it could face the wrath of US sanctions.

India has explained to its US interlocutors particularly during the "2+2 Talks" in New Delhi on September 6 this year that India needs to continue its traditional defense relationship with Russia because more than 70 percent of its defense equipment is of Russian origin.

The final decision by the US on this is yet to be made. India is determined to protect its strategic autonomy, particularly where its national security is concerned.

Another threat that looms large over India-US ties is of sanctions because of the US withdrawal from the Iranian nuclear deal on May 8, 2018. The US has threatened that countries that do not completely stop oil imports from Iran by November 4 this year will face the might of US sanctions.

Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had informed Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif during his visit to India in late May that India applies only sanctions mandated by the United Nations and not those imposed by a single country. The same message was reiterated to her Iranian counterpart during their meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly Session in September.

India has maintained that to safeguard its energy security as well as to keep its current account deficit under check, and keeping in mind the rising price of oil and diesel in the domestic market and falling value of the Indian rupee, it would not be possible for India to completely stop its oil imports from Iran. India will continue to be a significant, reliable and assured market for Iranian oil in the foreseeable future.

Threats by the Trump administration to significantly tighten provisions of issuance of H1B visas have caused considerable anxiety among the Indian diaspora living in the US and among those who are desirous of temporarily locating themselves to the US for better professional opportunities.

Although some positive developments have taken place in India-US relations since the inception of the Trump administration, there is considerable uncertainty in bilateral relations because of the substance as well as style in which Trump conducts his foreign policy.

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