Tariffs? What Tariffs?: Second Lady Usha Vance Highlights Personal Ties at U.S.-India Strategic Partnership Forum

Second Lady Usha Vance emphasized the deeply personal nature of India-U.S. relations during her appearance at the eighth edition of the U.S.-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) Leadership Summit in Washington, D.C., on Monday, drawing from her family’s recent transformative visit to India and her own Indian heritage.

A “Very Personal” Relationship

Speaking during a fireside chat with USISPF Chairman John Chambers, Vance characterized the bilateral relationship as uniquely meaningful to her personally. “It is a very personal relationship because I have family members who are in India, and I have many family members here in the United States, and I did grow up visiting India and visiting those family members,” she told the gathering of prominent government, business and community leaders from both nations.

The Second Lady, whose family roots trace to Andhra Pradesh, positioned the current moment as one of significant opportunity for strengthening ties between the world’s two largest democracies. “This is a time of great opportunity,” she stated, acknowledging that while “the United States and India – the relationship has ebbed and flowed at times,” the established Indian-American population and growing people-to-people connections create a foundation for deeper partnership.

India Visit: A “Trip of a Lifetime”

Central to Vance’s remarks was her family’s four-day official visit to India in April 2024, which she described as transformative for her three young children — Ewan, Vivek, and Mirabel — who had never previously visited the country despite growing up immersed in Indian culture through family stories, food, and relationships.

The visit included meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who made a particularly strong impression on the Vance children. “My kids saw him. They were sort of sleep deprived in Paris and they saw an Indian man with a white beard and white hair, and they just put him in the grandfather category immediately,” Vance recalled, describing how the children had previously met Modi in Paris where he gave their five-year-old son a birthday present.

During their visit to Modi’s Lok Kalyan Marg residence in New Delhi, the children’s comfort with the Prime Minister was evident. “When we were able to visit his home, they just sort of ran up. They were hugging him. He was just incredibly kind and generous to them,” Vance said. The Prime Minister presented all three children with peacock feathers during their visit.

Cultural Immersion and Family Connections

The Vance family’s India itinerary reflected both tourist highlights and cultural depth. They visited iconic sites including the Taj Mahal at sunrise, Amber Fort in Jaipur, and the Swaminarayan Akshardham temple in New Delhi. However, it was the cultural experiences that seemed to resonate most deeply with the children.

Each child found their own special connection during the trip. Ewan, the eldest, was captivated by temple sculptures and craftsmanship that brought familiar stories to life. Vivek was thrilled to encounter elephants, camels, and peacocks. Young Mirabel’s highlight was riding in an autorickshaw, with the Secret Service accommodating a brief drive in an enclosed area.

A puppet show featuring elements from the Ramayana, including performances from Andhra Pradesh where Vance’s family originates, proved particularly memorable. “My kids have been trying to recreate a home of construction paper, which is going about as well as you can imagine,” Vance noted with humor.

Looking Forward

Vance’s appearance at the USISPF summit comes as the Trump administration shapes its approach to key bilateral relationships. Her emphasis on personal connections and cultural understanding suggests that people-to-people ties will remain central to the US-India partnership under the new administration.

“I was struck by the number of people who came up to me to say how much they loved our country, how they visited family, how they visited just for pleasure, that they were hoping for a close relationship looking forward. And I think these personal ties actually really have something to do with it,” she reflected on her India experience.

The USISPF Leadership Summit also recognized the growing trilateral cooperation within the QUAD framework, presenting Global Leadership Awards to executives from IBM, Aditya Birla Group, and Hitachi for their contributions to US-India-Japan economic partnerships – marking the first time business leaders from all QUAD nations were honored at the forum.

As the Second Lady noted, the Vance family is already planning their next visit to India, hoping to explore regions more closely connected to her family heritage, suggesting that the personal diplomacy witnessed during their April visit will continue to complement formal diplomatic channels.