Prime Minister Modi of India and President Xi of China met at a security summit after the United States’ continued tariff push on both countries, most recently on India. The summit was brought together by President Xi, with more than 20 leaders from Central Asia. The most notable attendees, however, were Prime Minister Modi of India and President of Russia Vladmir Putin, who recently met with U.S. President Donald Trump after a highly publicized red-carpet welcome in Alaska. India, on the other hand, has seen a dampening in relations with the U.S. after tariffs were placed on India. Trump’s tariffs on India sit at 50%, with a 25% penalty on transactions with Russia to punish India for purchasing Russian oil and weapons, according to the BBC.

The summit comes a short time after the tariffs on India were implemented, leading to a more friendly interaction between India and China. After the two have engaged in some skirmishes over the past few years, the United States’ tariff strategy with both India and China seems to have brought the two closer together. According to the New York Times, President Xi said that China and India should be “partners rather than rivals,” and also that together the two countries should offer up “opportunities for each other’s development rather than threats.” 

Beneath the more friendly tone of the summit lay historical tensions between India and China. The skirmish between India and China along the Himalayan border that killed 24 soldiers in 2020 led many to worry about a sharp increase in tensions between the two nations, The border skirmish renewed memories of the 1962 Sino-Indian War which killed nearly 1,400 people. With China now being one of the world’s leading economies and India now ranking as the world’s fourth largest economy with economists predicting it will enter the top 3, tension between the two nations is at a risk for being more consequential than ever.

This new approach of a more friendly tone between the two nations in light of shared economic tension with the U.S. could be welcome between the two countries, and bring worry to the U.S., who has historically had close economic ties with India.  

On a global scale, lessened tensions between the world’s two most populous countries is a positive, and continued effort towards lasting peace is welcomed. For the United States it should bring worry, with the tariff strategy adopted by President Trump continuing to push allies away, leading to a less coherent Western Alliance.