‘PM Modi’s approval ratings make me jealous’: In Jaipur, JD Vance bats for better ties with India; says US not here to preach

Headlining the issue of trade talks in his 25-minute speech, he said, “When President Trump and Prime Minister Modi announced in February our country’s aim to more than double our bilateral trade to $500 billion by the end of the decade, I know that both of them meant it and I’m encouraged by everything our nations are doing to get us there. As many of you are aware, both of our governments are hard at work on a trade agreement built on shared priorities by creating new jobs, building durable supply chains and achieving prosperity for our workers.”

“In our meeting yesterday, Prime Minister Modi and I made very good progress on all of those points, and we are especially excited to formally announce that America and India have officially finalized Terms of Reference for the trade negotiation. I think this is a vital step. I believe this is a vital step toward realizing President Trump’s and Prime Minister Modi’s vision, because it sets a roadmap toward a final deal between our nations. I believe there is much that America and India can accomplish together,” he said.

Talking about defence cooperation, he said that Trump and Modi have laid the foundation for closer collaboration between the two countries, “from Javelins to Striker combat vehicles, our nations will co-produce many of the munitions and equipment that will need to deter foreign aggressors, not because we seek war, but because we seek peace, and we believe the best path to peace is through mutual strength. And launching the joint autonomous systems industry alliance will enable America and India to develop the state-of-the-art maritime systems needed for victory.”

Stating that “it’s fitting that India, this year, is hosting the Quad leaders summit this fall,” he said, “Our interests in a free, open, peaceful and prosperous Indo Pacific are in full alignment. Both of us know that the region must remain safe for many hostile powers to seek to dominate.”

“Growing relations between our countries over the last decade are part of what led America to designate India a major defence partner, the first of that class,” Vance added.

“We want to work together more, and we want your nation to buy more of our military equipment, which, of course, we believe is the best in class, American fifth generation, F-35 for example, give the Indian Air Force the ability to protect your airspace and protect your people like never before,” he said.

“Now I believe that our nations have much to offer to one another, and that’s why we come to you as partners, looking to strengthen our relationship,” Vance said, differentiating the Trump administration from the previous US administration.

“We’re not here to preach that you do things any one particular way. Too often in the past, Washington approached Prime Minister Modi with an attitude of preaching this, or even one of condescension. Prior administrations saw India as a source of low cost labor. On the one hand, even they criticized the Prime Minister’s government, arguably the most popular in the democratic world, and as I told Prime Minister Modi last night, he’s got approval ratings that would make me jealous. But it wasn’t just India. This attitude captured too much of our economic relationship with the rest of the world, so we shipped countless jobs overseas…We traded hard power for soft power,” he said.

With economic integration, he said, we were told there would be “peace through sameness. Over time, we’d all assume the same sort of bland, secular, universal values, no matter where you lived, the world was flat. After all, that was the thesis, and that was what they told us. And when that thesis was false, or at least incomplete, leaders in the West took it upon themselves to flatten it by any means necessary. But many of the people across the world, and I think your country counts among them, they did not want to be flattened. Many were proud of where you came from, their way of life, the kind of jobs they worked, and the kind of jobs their parents worked for them, and that very much includes people in my own country, the United States of America.”

US Vice President JD Vance speaks at the Rajasthan International Center in Jaipur, India, Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

Talking about manufacturing jobs, he said, “President Trump cares so deeply about protecting the manufacturing economy that is the lifeblood of American prosperity, and making sure America’s workers have opportunities for good jobs, as was earlier this month, he will go to extraordinary lengths to protect and expand those opportunities for all Americans.

So today, he said, “I come here with a simple message. Our administration seeks trade partners on the basis of fairness and of shared national interests. We want to build relationships with our foreign partners who respect their workers, who don’t suppress their wages to boost exports, but respect the value of their labor. We want partners that are committed to working with America to build things, not just allowing themselves to become a conduit for shipping others goods.”

“And finally, we want to partner with people and countries who recognize the historic nature of the moment we’re in, of the need to come together and build something truly new, a system of global trade that is balanced, one that is open and one that is stable and fair. I want to be clear, America’s partners need not look exactly like America, nor must our governments do everything exactly the same way, but we should have some common goals, and I believe here in India, we do in both economics and in national security, and that’s why I’m so excited to be here today in India, America has a friend, and we seek to strengthen the warm bonds our great nations already share,” Vance said.

He said that critics have attacked President Trump, adding, “He seeks to rebalance global trade so that America, with friends like India, can build a future worth having for all of our people together.”

Stating that “it’s fitting that India, this year, is hosting the Quad leaders summit this fall,” he said, “our interests in a free, open, peaceful and prosperous Indo Pacific are in full alignment. Both of us know that the region must remain safe for many hostile powers to seek to dominate.”

“Growing relations between our countries over the last decade are part what led America to designate India a major defence partner, the first of that class”.

US Vice President JD Vance and his sons, Vivek, left, and Ewan watch a cultural performance at Amber Fort, a historical site, in Jaipur, India, Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (Kenny Holston/The New York Times via AP, Pool)

“We want to work together more, and we want your nation to buy more of our military equipment, which, of course, we believe is the best in class, American fifth generation, F 35 for example, give the Indian Air Force, the ability to protect your airspace and protect your people like never before,” he said.

Talking about more energy cooperation, he said, “India, like America, wants to build and that will mean that we have to produce more energy, more energy production and more energy consumption. And it’s one of the many reasons why I think our nations have so much to gain by strengthening our energy ties. As President Trump is fond of saying, America has once again begun to drill, baby drill.”

“Past administrations in the United States of America…motivated by a fear of the future, have tied our hands and restricted American investments in oil and natural gas production. This administration recognizes that cheap, dependable energy is an essential part of making things. It is an essential part of economic independence for both of our nations. Of course, America is blessed with vast natural resources and an unusual capacity to generate energy, so much that we want to be able to sell it to our friends, like India. We believe your nation will benefit from American energy exports, and by expanding those exports, you’ll be able to build more, make more and grow more, but at much lower energy costs. We also want to help India explore its own considerable natural resources, including its offshore natural gas reserves and critical mineral supplies. We have the capacity, and we have the desire to help.”

“One suggestion I’d have is maybe consider dropping some of the non-tariff barriers for American access to the Indian market,” he said.

“We are delighted to support India’s energy security ambitions. We welcome the Modi government’s budget announcement to amend India’s civil nuclear liability laws, which currently prevent US producers from exporting small modular reactors and building larger US design reactors in India. There’s much that we can create, much that we can do together. We believe that American energy can help realize India’s nuclear power production goals, and this is very important, as well as its AI ambitions. Because, as the United States knows well, and I know that India knows well, there is no AI future without energy security and energy dominance,” he said.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma and Deputy Chief Minister Diya Kumari welcome United States Vice President JD Vance, Second Lady Usha Vance, and their children at Amber Fort in Jaipur on Tuesday. (ANI Photo)

On the TRUST initiative for critical tech cooperation, he said that this was “cornerstone of the partnership of the future”.

“In the years to come, we’re going to see data centers, pharmaceuticals, undersea cables and countless other critical things being developed and being built because of the American and Indian economic partnership.. Our nations have so much to gain by investing in one another, America investing in India. And of course, India invests in the United States of America. And I know that Americans, our people, are excited about that prospect, and that President Trump and I are looking forward to stronger ties. Americans want further access to Indian markets. This is a great place to do that,” he said.

The US Vice President said that neither Americans nor Indians are alone in looking to scale up their manufacturing capacity.

“India and the United States have so much to offer one another. We’ve got great hardware, the leading artificial intelligence hardware in the world. You have one of the most exciting startup technology infrastructures anywhere in the world. There’s a lot to be gained by working together,” he said.