A recent editorial in this newspaper argued that a deal with the United States now will go a long way in reducing the uncertainty that has marred relations between the countries, while expanding trade (‘Ahead of the big deal, strike a careful balance’, IE, July 17). But the proposed India-United States trade agreement is about far more than trade. It is about how a rising India engages the world’s largest economy while preserving the strategic confidence, policy flexibility and institutional freedom that will define its next phase of growth.

Even after agreements with the UK, Australia and Europe, no market matches the scale, investment capacity, technological depth and strategic importance of the US. Equally, America has strong reasons to deepen its economic engagement with India. It seeks access to one of the world’s fastest-growing consumer markets, a trusted strategic partner in an uncertain Indo-Pacific and an economy that will shape demand for digital and financial services. Neither country can fully realise its ambitions without a deeper partnership with the other.

Washington may also have underestimated India by assuming that the goodwill........

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