India and the Reordering of Transatlantic Relations

Europe is not typically the focus of the Grand Tamasha podcast but recent developments involving Europe, the United States, and India raise fresh questions about the future shape of the international order.

Last week, a high-level European Commission delegation embarked on a historic trip to New Delhi, where the two sides spoke optimistically of a promising new chapter in their relationship. Across the ocean in Washington, however, there were alarming signs of a breakdown in the Trans-Atlantic relationship, with the unprecedented Oval Office dressing down of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

To discuss where things stand in Europe, India, and the United States, Milan is joined on the show this week by Tara Varma. Tara is a visiting fellow in the Center of the United States and Europe at the Brookings Institution. Until December 2022, she was a senior policy fellow and the head of the Paris office of the European Council on Foreign Relations. She has previously worked and lived in Shanghai, London, New Delhi, and Paris.

Milan and Tara discuss the growing wedge between the United States and Europe, the significance of the recent EC visit to New Delhi, the prospects of an EU-India trade pact, and the prospects of a “New Yalta” summit between China, Russia, and the United States. Plus, the two discuss the emerging bonhomie among right-wing nationalists and the prospects of the Trump administration engineering a Sino-Russia split.

Episode notes:

1. Sophia Besch and Tara Varma, “A New Transatlantic Alliance Threatens the EU,” Carnegie Emissary (blog), February 20, 2025.

2. Patricia M. Kim et al., " The China-Russia relationship and threats to vital US interests,” Brookings Institution, December 16, 2024.

3. Tara Varma and Caroline Grassmuck, “What is going on in France?” Brookings Institution, December 13, 2024.

4. C. Raja Mohan, “In Trump’s world, India and Europe need each other,” Indian Express, February 27, 2025.