Comments
Short commentary by ORF America experts on current issues. These comments represent the views of the author(s). ORF America does not hold institutional positions on any issues. Comments from previous years can be found here.
By Anit Mukherjee
Just as the Pittsburgh G20 Summit in 2009 shaped the global economy after the global financial crisis, next year’s Summit in Miami could reset the G20 to issues that matter: financial stability, economic security, and technological innovation.
By Caroline Arkalji
For utilities and developers, a robust U.S. battery-storage industry would reduce dependence on overseas suppliers, cut logistical and tariff-related costs, and accelerate project deployment. If the United States seizes this moment, it can position itself as a global leader in grid-scale battery manufacturing and deliver a more reliable, competitive, and secure energy system for the decades ahead.
By Jeffrey D. Bean
The success of Pax Silica as a tangible platform for the United States and U.S. allies and partners to secure supply chains and retain or regain advantages in technology will be a massive diplomatic and commercial undertaking. Sustained political will seems uncertain.
By Marta Bengoa
Rather than reviving American manufacturing and boosting employment, the data from Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs tell a story of job losses in manufacturing, stagnant productivity in that sector, higher inflation across the economy, and economic uncertainty on a scale not seen in decades.
By Ashwini Thakre and Piyush Verma
China’s diplomatic control over sector may become the very trigger that unwinds its dominance. By weaponizing concentration, Beijing accelerated diversification efforts that many democracies had treated as optional. The shock exposed the liabilities of a system built on single-country dependence and encouraged a coordinated wave of investment across the United States, Europe, Japan, South Korea, and Australia.
By Benjamin Tkach and Vasabjit Banerjee
Submarine production difficulties affect the global marketplace and place a premium on domestic production. India’s pursuit of untested technologies elevates its risk, while Taiwan’s domestically produced system relies on foreign components. Both, therefore, have a lot to benefit from engineering and design cooperation in submarine production.
By James Diddams
When Indians speak of dharma and Americans speak of responsibility to protect, they are not speaking from the same tradition, yet they are addressing the same basic problems: How should a political community understand itself as accountable for the use of power?
By Dhruva Jaishankar
Shaped by its own national objectives, advantages, and limitations, India’s AI strategy stands out in several ways, with implications for the country’s AI infrastructure and its relationship with the United States.
By Dhruva Jaishankar
The prospects of a major war involving China and the United States, and a limited war between Pakistan and India, are perhaps higher in the next three years than they have been over the preceding quarter century. Moreover, these two scenarios are connected by an increasingly intertwined China-Pakistan military relationship, which now extends beyond arms transfers to shared networks and emulated doctrines.
By Anit Mukherjee
The fact is that there have been few concrete proposals to address the twin challenges of debt sustainability and the rising demands for additional resources for sustainable development. In a world coming to terms with the radical changes in the development finance landscape over the past months, the leadership of the developing world to advance sustainable development is more critical than ever.
By Piyush Verma
Strengthening the EU-India energy partnership would unlock significant economic opportunities for both regions, fostering innovation, job creation, and strengthening security. How India and the EU align their energy strategies through their trade agreement will have far-reaching consequences for the world’s future.
By Dhruva Jaishankar and Ammar Nainar
As China and the United States jostle for position, India has a modest but meaningful role to play as a security provider in the Western Pacific. Beyond the Indian Ocean, its ability to improve interoperability with willing and capable partners and assist in capacity-building efforts have only increased, notwithstanding the tenor of relations with the United States.
By Medha Prasanna
Joint innovation in water-efficient cooling, collaborative investment in low-carbon hyperscale campuses, and harmonized approaches to land and community engagement could make the U.S.–India partnership a global benchmark in data infrastructure.
By Telmen Altanshagai
The implications of PS-2 for Mongolia are double-edged. The project could provide new revenues, jobs, and energy diversification, while elevating Mongolia’s role in regional energy flows. But it also risks eroding the very sovereignty and strategic autonomy that Ulaanbaatar has sought to preserve through its “Third Neighbor” policy.
By Archana Kamath
While India’s overseas investments in infrastructure have been growing, including with the support of the Indian government’s foreign assistance programs, they have received far less attention, despite important projects in countries such as Bangladesh, Greece, Indonesia, Israel, Mauritius, the Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tanzania, and Vietnam.
By Dhruva Jaishankar
The newly-elected presidency of Lee Jae Myung in South Korea has created an opportunity to advance India-South Korea relations. The greatest potential for cooperation between the two countries involves aligning South Korea’s dynamic industrial capabilities with India’s own industrialization efforts.
By Marta Bengoa
The current situation demands acknowledgment that trade and monetary policy operate as interconnected systems, not isolated levers that can be pulled independently. A coherent approach would acknowledge that the United States’ economic strength derives from its integration into global supply chains, not isolation from them.
By Anit Mukherjee
In less than two months, global heads of governments will land in Belém for the formal opening of COP30. But with little time left, climate commitments are falling short of the urgency needed to address the crisis.
By Caroline Arkalji
Securing strategic minerals against intensifying natural risks is no longer just a business challenge; it must be a global policy priority. The energy transition cannot succeed on unstable foundations; the world needs smarter, safer, and fairer mines designed to withstand current and future environmental risks.
By Anit Mukherjee
India’s tariff troubles in the short term are an opportunity to undertake a strategic revaluation of its export strategy at a time when the global trading system itself is in turmoil.
By Hsiao-Chen Lin
With its semiconductor leadership, an open economy, and pluralistic partnerships, Taiwan shows that the international community can uphold their One China policies while refusing to validate Beijing’s expansionist interpretation.
By Katherine Salinas
The middleware approach presents the fewest First Amendment complications of any regulatory option. Rather than restricting speech or compelling specific viewpoints, it simply requires transparency and user choice.
By Piyush Verma
By meeting clean energy targets ahead of schedule, expanding nuclear and hydrogen capacity, and securing critical mineral supply chains, India is positioning itself as a model for climate-conscious growth that does not compromise on economic or strategic goals.
By Jiwon Lim
Despite a rapidly evolving cyber landscape, India’s cyber security focus marginalizes the trust building and assessment abilities that make up a reporting framework.
By Anit Mukherjee and Caroline Arkalji
The consecutive presidencies of Indonesia, India, Brazil, and South Africa within the G20 offers a blueprint for how the Global South can continue shaping global governance at a time of geopolitical uncertainty and a rapid rebalancing of the globalization process itself.
By Dhruva Jaishankar
Over the past few months, relations between the United States and India have gone from stable and promising to tense and turbulent..
By Hansika Nath
Clean technology has emerged as a key area of convergence in trade talks between India and the EU.
By Marta Bengoa
What began as April's "Liberation Day" announcement has evolved into a complex framework of negotiated settlements that, while avoiding the most severe outcomes initially threatened, creates new economic distortions across multiple trading relationships.
By Megha Shrivastava
India’s growing digital infrastructure and AI talent pool offer the United States a strategic opportunity to offset its compute shortfall, but realizing this potential demands deeper bilateral alignment on infrastructure, talent, and governance.
By Piyush Verma
While challenges remain in terms of generation mix, grid integration, infrastructure resilience and storage capacity, India’s clean energy milestone sends a clear message: ambitious goals, backed by policy, innovation, and investment, can deliver real-world impact.
