Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma and Deputy CM Diya Kumari extended warm welcome to Vice President and his family at Amber Fort.

• By Dr YashGoyal
  Special Correspondent

Jaipur, (TIP)- In the aftermath of tariff war and bitter relationship with China and others, the American Vice-President Mr J D Vance vehemently said that if India and the US work together successfully, both are going to see a 21st century that is prosperous and peaceful.
“But I also believe that if we fail to work together successfully, the 21st century could be a very dark time for all of humanity.We are now officially one quarter into the 21st century, 25 years, and 75 years to go. I really believe that the future of the 21st century is going to be determined by the strength of the US-India partnership. It’s clear to me, as it is to most observers, that President Trump, of course, intends to rebalance America’s economic relationship with the rest of the world”, Vance claimed.
In about 30-minutes speech on his maiden four-day visit to India, Vance told the businessmen, state ministers, bureaucrats, capitalists, and students at Rajasthan International Centre in Jaipur, “Because our partnership is so important to the future of the world, I believe President Trump’s efforts – joined, of course, by the whole country of India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi – will make the 21st century the best century in human history.”
US Vice-President called upon India ‘to buy more of’ US militar

y equipment and expand American energy purchases while offering to help in exploring the country’s “own considerable natural resources”.

Referring to the bilateral goal of doubling trade to $500 billion by the end of the decade, Vance overwhelmingly said, “We are especially excited to formally announce that America and India have officially finalised the terms of reference for the trade negotiation. I believe this is a vital step toward realising 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. And on that note, I want to talk about a few areas of collaboration today, how India and the US can work together. First, perhaps most importantly, to protect our nations. Second, to build great things. And finally, to innovate the cutting-edge technologies both our countries will need in the years to come”.
Vance recalled that Trump had sought to rebalance global trade so that America, with friends like India, can build a future worth having for all of our people together. And when President Trump and Prime Minister Modi announced in February that their countries aimed to more than double our bilateral trade to $500 billion by the end of the decade, he said, and added, “I know that both of them meant it”.
On defence deals, the Vice-President said, “Our countries already enjoy a close relationship, one of the closest relationships in the world. America does more military exercises with India than we do with any other nation. The US-India Compact that President Trump and
Prime Minister Modi announced in February will lay the foundation for even closer collaboration. From javelins to striker combat vehicles, our nations will co-produce many of the munitions and equipment that we’ll 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”.
“The launching of the Joint Autonomous Systems Industry Alliance will enable America and India to develop the most state-of-the-art maritime systems needed for victory. It’s fitting that India is hosting the Quad Leaders Summit this fall. Our interests in a free, open, peaceful, and prosperous Indo-Pacific are in full alignment”, he anticipated.
“And we want your nation (India) to buy more of our military equipment, which we believe is the best in class. American fifth-generation F-35s, for example, would give the Indian Air Force the ability to defend your airspace and protect your people like never before, and I’ve met a lot of great people from the Indian Air Force just in the last couple of days. India, like America, wants to build, and that will mean that we have to produce more energy. It’s 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”, Vance expressed.
Hailing Modi several times in his speech, the Vice-President, who was hosted dinner at PM’s house in Delhi on Monday after arrival from USA,said, “Now, I’ve talked about this, of course, with Modi, and look, Trump and I know that he is a tough negotiator. He drives a hard bargain. It’s one of the reasons why we respect him. And we don’t blame Modi for fighting for India’s industry, but we do blame American leaders of the past for failing to do the same for our workers. We believe that we can fix that to the mutual benefit of both the US and India”.
There’s a vitality to India, a sense of infinite possibility, of new homes to be built, new skylines to be raised, and lives to be enriched. And there’s a pride in being Indian, a feeling of excitement about the days that lie ahead. It’s a striking contrast with too many in the West, where some in our leadership class seem stricken by self-doubt and even fear of the future, he optimistically said.
Quoting the previous US government of Mr Joe Biden’s attitude towards Modi government, he clarified he was not in India to preach that you do things any one particular way. Too often in the past, Washington approached Prime Minister Modi with an attitude of preachiness, or even one of condescension, he accused the Biden government. “Prior US administration saw India as a source of low-cost labour on the one hand, even as they criticised 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”, he added.
In his simple message to partners, Vance offered that the US Administration seeks trade partners on the basis of fairness and shared national interests. “We want to build relationship with our foreign partners who respect their workers, who do no not supress their wages to boost exports, but respect the value of their labour. We want partners that are committed to working
with America to build things, not just allowing themselves to become a conduit for trans-shipping others’ goods. And finally, we want to partner with people and countries who recognise 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”, he elaborated.
Admitting that the critics have attacked his President Trump for starting a trade war in an effort to bring back the jobs of the past, he said, adding, “But nothing could be further from the truth. Trump seeks to rebalance global trade so that America, with friends like India, can build a future worth having for all of our people together. And when President Trump and Prime Minister Modi announced in February that our countries 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”
Defending Trump’s new format of tariff, he said, “As a result, under the Trump administration, America now has a government that has learned from the mistakes of the past. It’s why 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 we saw earlier this month, he will go to extraordinary lengths to protect and expand those opportunities for all Americans”.
On Tuesday, April 22, he along with his family members took sight seen of Amber Fort, in the afternoon he addressed a political-socio session, and stayed back at Ram Bagh Taj Hotel. On Wednesday morning he went to Agra for Taj Mahal sightseeing.
Vance shares personal and emotional information in his speech:
My son, Ewan, is seven years old. He’s our firstborn son. Yesterday, after we had dinner at the prime minister’s house, the food was so good and the prime minister was so kind to our three children that Ewan came up to me afterwards and he said, “Dad, you know, I think maybe I could live in India.” But I think after about 90 minutes in the Jaipur sun today at the Great Palace, he suggested that maybe we should move to England. So you take the good with the bad here.
There you are, Usha. Thank you. She’s a bit of a celebrity, it turns out, in India, I think more so than her husband. But I haven’t been here long, but already I’ve been fortunate enough to visit the Akshardham Temple. Did I pronounce that right, honey? I did okay? All right. With my family this morning, as a matter of fact. And last night, Prime Minister Modi welcomed me, Usha, and our three small children at his beautiful home.
The prime minister said, I have one request. I want you to talk a little bit about your background. And so I wanted to do that. For those of you who don’t know anything about me, I want to talk about it. I come from, and I’m biased, the greatest state in the Union, the state of Ohio, a longtime manufacturing powerhouse in the US. My home, specifically, is a place called Middletown. Now it’s not a massive city by any means, it’s not Jaipur, but it’s a decent-sized town and a place where people make things, which has been a point of pride in Middletown for generations. It’s filled with families like my own, some of whom called us hillbillies – Americans who came down from the surrounding hills and mountains of West Virginia, Tennessee, and Kentucky to cities like Middletown in pursuit of the manufacturing jobs that were creating widespread prosperity for families all across America. They came to Middletown in search of, what we call back home, the American dream.In Middletown, my parents raised me. My grandparents raised me. They taught us to work hard, they taught me to study hard, and they taught me to love God and my country and always be good to your own. My granddad, who I called Papaw growing up, he typified that.
(News Story is based on live coverage of Vance speech by CNBC live)