New Delhi [India], June 9 (ANI): Victoria Coates, Former Deputy National Security Advisor to US President Donald Trump, said that India is a much better partner of the US than China.

Coates, in a conversation with ANI, said that Trump's visit to China is to see how it manages the trough in the global economy created by the US-Iran war. Trump completed a high-profile state visit to Beijing on May 15, 2026, where he held a two-day summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

'I have been an outspoken proponent of the US-India relationship. I think we have a much, much better partner in India than China. I think India is a wonderful potential ally to the United States. You are already an ally. But going forward, as you know, as you stop. I mean, you proceed beyond being a developing nation into being a global superpower. You know, how much better for the United States is that partnership with India than any kind of partnership with China?' she said.

She said that during this time, the US wants to manage the relationship with China very carefully.

'One thing we want to avoid, if we can, is a direct conflict. And we just did a big AI-generated kind of war game of a conflict between the United States and China called Operation Tidal Wave. If folks are interested, it's on our Heritage website. But the one thing that all those tens of thousands of scenarios that we were able to run using AI that they all agreed on was that the global GDP took a 10% hit the minute the conflict started. Regardless of outcome. And so that 10% hit means a global recession. It could mean global depression. We really want to avoid that if we can,' she said.

Coates said further that the US and China are not friends, and that China remains Washington's single greatest security and economic threat.

'I think that was the theme of the president's trip to China was let's see if we can manage this sort of interim time period as sort of China figures out what it's going to be going forward. Doesn't mean we're friends with them by any stretch of the imagination. They remain our single greatest security threat and economic threat,' she said.

Coates further said that the personal relationship between Trump and PM Modi was solid, and their January 2025 talks laid the roadmap for the relationship going forward.

'Well, I think the relationship was obviously very strong in the first term. The personal relationship between Prime Minister Modi and President Trump is real and sincere. And that is a great asset, I think, to both of us. And I thought the visit in January of 2025 was very successful. The communique that came out of that is literally a roadmap for our relationship going forward. Now, there is an irritant in India's legacy relationship with Russia, particularly regarding Ukraine. And we've been through this before,' she said.

Coates said that as the US has increased its capacity in natural gas, it can figure out India's needs.

'It's an interesting comparison to the first term when we took the Iranian exports of oil on which India was then very dependent down to zero, and made up for that with additional Saudi and US exports. And so it wound up not being a problem for India. Because we now have so much increased capacity in natural gas, we need to look at that, figure out what India's needs are, and how we can make up for those imports of Russian gas and cut that off. And then I think we'll remove that irritant, and we can go forward in a really, I think, fantastic partnership. I wouldn't call it just a trading partnership,' she said.

Coates said that the US-India relationship is going to encompass several sectors, which would cater to the interests of both parties.

'I think it's going to be so much more than that. It's going to be security. It's going to be technology. It's going to be the workforce. The possibilities are just endless. And I think it's hugely in both of our best interests. A stumbling block over here that I've noticed is also that, you know, three decades of American presidents, there's always been a bipartisan sort of agreement that, you know, the India-US relationship has been on the up and up,' he said.

The comments come as the United States and India signed a bilateral Critical Minerals Framework on May 26, marking a milestone in the strategic partnership between the two nations to ensure that the foundational elements required for advanced technology and energy are available within trusted networks. (ANI)