Overview

• Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will visit New Delhi on August 18 for Special Representatives boundary talks with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval to ease tensions along the Line of Actual Control.
• External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar travels to Moscow on August 20–21 for talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and to set the stage for a potential visit by President Vladimir Putin to India later this year.
• President Donald Trump’s recent 25 percent tariff hike doubled U.S. duties on Indian goods to 50 percent as a penalty for New Delhi’s continued import of discounted Russian crude.
• India is using the visits to strengthen oil and defence cooperation with Russia while cautiously reviving diplomatic channels with China before the SCO summit in Tianjin.
• These back-to-back engagements reflect New Delhi’s effort to balance great-power pressures and secure strategic autonomy under mounting global trade frictions.