A large section of Indians and Pakistanis view each other as their greatest threat, reflecting the deep-entrenched distrust between the two neighbours, a new survey has found.

According to American think tank Pew Research, 54% of surveyed adults in India described Pakistan as their greatest geopolitical threat, followed by China at 21%.

Similarly, 43% of Pakistanis saw India as their greatest threat while 24% each held the same views about Israel and China.

Pakistanis clearly point to China (75%) as their most important ally and, to a lesser degree, to Saudi Arabia (12%). About a third of Indians say Russia is their top ally (36%), while 16% name the U.S. Roughly a third of Indians did not answer the question.

Despite the camaraderie between U.S. President Donald Trump and Pakistan’s army chief Asim Munir, only 15% of Pakistanis hold a favourable opinion about the U.S. An overwhelming 90% had a favourable view about China.

Pew Research found that only 12% of Pakistanis had confidence in Mr. Trump to do the right thing in world affairs, while 83% held similar views about China’s President Xi Jinping.

Indians held much more positive views of Russia (58% favourable) and President Vladimir Putin (51% confidence) than Pakistanis do — 39% and 32% respectively.

Just 23% of Indians view China positively, while 25% trust Xi Jinping’s global leadership.

45% of surveyed Indians viewed the U.S. favourably, while 39% expressed more confidence in Mr. Trump.

In South Asia

The survey among adults in four South Asian nations – India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka threw up varying results.

An overwhelming majority of Sri Lankans (79%) express a positive view of India, compared with 42% of Bangladeshis and 7% of Pakistanis.

63% of Sri Lankans name India as their most important ally, while Bangladeshis and Pakistanis most often name India as their greatest threat.

U.S. view on India

In the U.S., 45% of Americans view India favourably, while 50% view it unfavourably.

As many as 50% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents have a favourable view of India, compared with 42% of Republicans and Republican leaners.

Over 54% of Americans surveyed say that India’s global influence in recent years has stayed about the same, while 30% say it is getting stronger. Another 13% say India’s influence has been getting weaker.

The U.S.-India relationship is at its lowest point in the last 30 years due to U.S. President Donald Trump’s “utterly destructive policies”, Indian-American Congressman Ro Khanna has said.

Addressing the U.S.-India Strategic Partnership Forum Leadership Summit in Washington, Mr. Khanna on Monday (June 29, 2026) claimed that during his recent visit to China, India’s Ambassador there had told him that a generation of trust was lost due to Mr. Trump’s policies.

“Now, you know I’m not one to mince words. I sort of tell things as they are. The U.S.-India relationship has been at its lowest point in the last 30 years,” Mr. Khanna said.

“Trump’s policies of getting into a war with Iran have been utterly destructive. It has been utterly destructive to the prices of gas in India. Talk to [External Affairs Minister] Jaishankar if you don’t believe me,” the California Democrat said.

“I was in China, and the Indian Ambassador there told me that a generation of trust has been lost by President Trump. If we don’t speak the truth about the damage this President has done…we are not living in reality,” Mr. Khanna, a presumptive 2028 Presidential hopeful, said.

He slammed Mr. Trump’s policies of threatening Iran and Cuba and conquering Greenland.

“Now you have an America that has forgotten that moral vision, that has a foreign policy of might makes right, threatening not just Iran, threatening Cuba, threatening to conquer Greenland, and we were having dinner as if everything is normal,” Mr. Khanna said.

“Who cares about the partnerships of this and that when this President is literally destroying America’s leadership in the entire world,” he said.

“The demagoguery about immigrants, the demagoguery of this President and talking about the lack of immigrants coming into the United States. How can we sit here and not condemn his policies on what he has done with student visas, with the demonisation of talent coming to the United States,” Mr. Khanna said.

Don’t care about name on letterhead: Sergio Gor on Indo-Pacific command row

The Democratic leader said Mr. Trump talks about the U.S. leading in the field of artificial intelligence.

“38% of the top AI researchers are of Chinese origin. 72% have foreign degrees. This is a President who doesn’t understand that we need to be recruiting talent, not turning talent away,” Mr. Khanna said.

Mr. Khanna described Mr. Trump as a “lame duck” and asserted that the Democrats were going to win the upcoming mid-term elections and the 2028 presidential elections decisively.

U.S. Ambassador to India Sergio Gor has sought to reassure Indians over the Trump administration’s immigration measures, saying changes to the U.S. visa system are “not targeted at India” while insisting that people-to-people ties, trade and defence cooperation between the two countries will continue to grow.

In an exclusive interview with IANS at the White House, Mr. Gor said the administration’s immigration reforms were part of a broader effort to overhaul the entire U.S. immigration system rather than measures directed at any particular country.

“I don’t think the big item to remember on that is this is not targeted at India,” Mr. Gor said when asked about concerns surrounding H-1B visas and reports of increased immigration enforcement in the United States.

Also Read | First in 16 months: Modi and Trump exchange pleasantries amid strained India-U.S. ties

“The United States, we had to take stock of the whole immigration system, every kind of visa,” he said. “Unfortunately, under previous administrations, our borders were wide open. That’s something the President wanted to fix on day one.”

Mr. Gor said Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Donald Trump shared similar views on illegal immigration.

“It’s actually something the Prime Minister relates to,” he said. “When I listen to the Prime Minister speaking in India, he talks about no illegal migrants. We hundred per cent agree with that.”

The U.S. Ambassador said India’s large population naturally meant more Indians were affected by changes in U.S. immigration procedures, but stressed that the reforms should not be viewed as India-specific.

“Of course, India’s a massive population, so you’re impacted by it,” he said. “But things continue.”

Mr. Gor pointed to the scale of visa operations in India as evidence of the strength of bilateral exchanges. “Our Embassy is one of the busiest embassies in the world as it relates to visas, as you know,” he said. “So the people-to-people ties will continue, trade will continue, commerce will continue.”

He also highlighted the depth of the broader strategic partnership between the two countries.

“India exports more to the United States than anywhere else in the world,” Mr. Gor said. “India does more defence exercises with the United States than any other country in the world.”

“So we have incredible things happening. We’ll continue building on that.”

On energy cooperation, Mr. Gor said New Delhi had already increased purchases of U.S. energy and argued that diversifying supplies would strengthen India’s energy security.

“I think we’ve already seen an incredible increase in energy coming from the United States,” he said. “For India, that’s a good thing. You want to be diversified. You should not have all your energy supplies coming from one place.”

Referring to the recent crisis involving Iran, Mr. Gor added: “Unfortunately, when Iran decided to shut down the Strait of Hormuz, which are international waterways, the whole world was impacted by it. So having different sources is a good thing for every country.”

India remains one of the largest sources of international students and skilled professionals entering the United States, while Indian companies continue to expand investments and operations across the American market. Mobility of students, professionals and business travellers has become an important pillar of the bilateral relationship.

The India-U.S. partnership has expanded significantly over the past two decades, encompassing defence, technology, trade, clean energy and critical supply chains. Despite periodic policy differences on immigration and trade, both governments have consistently described the relationship as one of their most consequential strategic partnerships.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday (May 21, 2026) that the U.S. was in talks with India to expand energy cooperation, an issue that would feature in his discussions during a visit to New Delhi.

“Well, we want to sell them as much energy as they’ll buy. And obviously, you’ve seen I think we’re at historic levels of U.S. production, and U.S. export,” Mr. Rubio told reporters in Miami as he embarked on the trip to Sweden and India.

Mr. Rubio will be in India from May 23-26 and will visit Kolkata, Agra, Jaipur and New Delhi.

“We want to be able to do more. We were already in talks with them to do more. We want them to be a bigger part of their portfolio. We also think there are opportunities with Venezuelan oil,” Mr. Rubio said.

He was responding to a question about India being affected by high energy prices due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

Mr. Rubio described India as a “great partner” and said his visit to New Delhi was important as it would also allow him to meet with ministers from the Quad nations.

“They are a great ally, a great partner. We do a lot of good work with them. And so it is an important trip. I’m glad we’re able to do it because I think there’ll be a lot for us to talk about,” Mr. Rubio said.

“We’ll also meet with Quad there, which is important. I think my first meeting as Secretary of State was with the Quad. I’m glad we can do it now in India and we’re going to do one later in the year as well,” Mr. Rubio said.

Mr. Rubio said the acting President of Venezuela, Delcy Rodriguez, was also scheduled to visit India next week, and there will be many opportunities to work with New Delhi.

“In fact, it’s my understanding that the interim president of Venezuela will be travelling to India next week as well. So, there’s opportunities. There’s a lot to work on with India,” he said.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday (January 4, 2025) posted a list of several countries, including Pakistan, Bhutan, China, Bangladesh and Nepal, to highlight rates of welfare and assistance received by immigrants from those countries in the U.S., a compilation that does not include India.

The ‘Immigrant Welfare Recipient Rates by Country of Origin’ list includes about 120 nations and territories around the world, whose immigrants in the U.S. receive assistance. India is not on the list.

The chart, posted by Mr. Trump on Truth Social, highlights the immigrants’ country of birth and the percentage of immigrant households receiving assistance.

The list includes Bangladesh, with 54.8% of immigrant households from that country receiving assistance, Pakistan (40.2%), Nepal (34.8%), China (32.9%), and Israel/Palestine (25.9%), Ukraine 42.7% and Asia (not elsewhere classified/not specified) 38.8%. 

Data has shown that Indian-Americans have among the highest median household incomes among major ethnic groups in the U.S.

Fear, uncertainty grip Indian students amidst Trump’s immigration crackdown

According to the Pew Research Centre, Indian Americans are the second-largest Asian origin population living in the U.S., accounting for approximately 21% of the country’s Asian population.

The median annual income of Indian-headed households was $151,200 in 2023.

Among Asian-headed households overall, it was $105,600. Households with an Indian immigrant household head had a higher median annual income than those with a U.S.-born Indian household head ($156,000 vs. $120,200).

The median annual personal earnings of Indian Americans ages 16 and older were $85,300 in 2023, higher than among Asians overall ($52,400), according to Pew data.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday (January 4, 2025) posted a list of several countries, including Pakistan, Bhutan, China, Bangladesh and Nepal, to highlight rates of welfare and assistance received by immigrants from those countries in the U.S., a compilation that does not include India.

The ‘Immigrant Welfare Recipient Rates by Country of Origin’ list includes about 120 nations and territories around the world, whose immigrants in the U.S. receive assistance. India is not on the list.

The chart, posted by Mr. Trump on Truth Social, highlights the immigrants’ country of birth and the percentage of immigrant households receiving assistance.

The list includes Bangladesh, with 54.8% of immigrant households from that country receiving assistance, Pakistan (40.2%), Nepal (34.8%), China (32.9%), and Israel/Palestine (25.9%), Ukraine 42.7% and Asia (not elsewhere classified/not specified) 38.8%. 

Data has shown that Indian-Americans have among the highest median household incomes among major ethnic groups in the U.S.

Fear, uncertainty grip Indian students amidst Trump’s immigration crackdown

According to the Pew Research Centre, Indian Americans are the second-largest Asian origin population living in the U.S., accounting for approximately 21% of the country’s Asian population.

The median annual income of Indian-headed households was $151,200 in 2023.

Among Asian-headed households overall, it was $105,600. Households with an Indian immigrant household head had a higher median annual income than those with a U.S.-born Indian household head ($156,000 vs. $120,200).

The median annual personal earnings of Indian Americans ages 16 and older were $85,300 in 2023, higher than among Asians overall ($52,400), according to Pew data.

The U.S. sees an opportunity to expand its strategic relationship with Pakistan but it will not be at the expense of its historic and important ties with India, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said.

Ahead of his meeting with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar in Kuala Lumpur on Monday (October 27, 2025), Mr. Rubio, referring to India’s energy ties with Russia, said New Delhi has already expressed a desire to diversify its procurement of crude oil.

The U.S. Secretary of State was interacting with journalists ahead of his trip to Malaysia for the ASEAN summit.

Mr. Rubio, to a question on the U.S.’ ties with Pakistan, said New Delhi is “concerned for obvious reasons” and that Washington’s relationship with Islamabad will not be at the expense of the ties with New Delhi.

“But, I think they (India) have to understand we have to have relations with a lot of different countries. We see an opportunity to expand our strategic relationship with Pakistan,” he said.

“I think the Indians are very mature when it comes to diplomacy and things of that nature. Look, they have some relationships with countries that we don’t have relationships with. So, it’s part of a mature, pragmatic foreign policy,” he said.

“I don’t think anything we’re doing with Pakistan comes at the expense of our relationship or friendship with India, which is deep, historic, and important,” Mr. Rubio added.

The U.S.-Pakistan ties have witnessed an upswing in the last six months, especially after President Donald Trump’s meeting with Pakistan Army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir following the military conflict between India and Pakistan in May.

While India rejected Mr. Trump’s repeated claims that he brokered a ceasefire between the two countries, Pakistan credited the U.S. President for ending the hostilities between the two countries.

On India-Russia oil trade

To another question on if India will be willing to really shove off its purchases of Russian oil for a trade deal with the U.S., Mr. Rubio said New Delhi has already expressed an interest in diversifying its oil portfolio.

“If they diversified their portfolio, the more they buy it from us, the more they’ll buy it from someone else. But I wouldn’t prejudge or — I’m not negotiating trade deals. So I’m not going to speak on that,” he said.

“But I know they’ve (India) already expressed a desire to diversify their oil portfolio, even before all of this came up. So, obviously the more we sell them, the less they’ll buy from someone else. And, but, we’ll see where we wind up on all that,” he said.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday (October 15, 2025) that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has assured him India will not buy Russian oil.

“So I was not happy that India was buying oil, and he assured me today that they will not be buying oil from Russia. That’s a big step. Now we’re going to get China to do the same thing,” Mr. Trump told reporters.

The U.S. has sanctioned more than 50 entities, individuals and vessels for allegedly facilitating Iranian energy sales, according to an official statement.

Two Indian nationals are the among those facing the sanctions, announced by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Thursday (October 9, 2025).

“These actors have collectively enabled the export of billions of dollars’ worth of petroleum and petroleum products, providing critical revenue to the Iranian regime and its support for terrorist groups that threaten the United States,” the department said in a press release.

The sanctions are part of the department’s efforts to curb Iran’s petroleum and petrochemical exports. “The Treasury Department is degrading Iran’s cash flow by dismantling key elements of Iran’s energy export machine,” it said, quoting Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent.

One of the Indian nationals sanctioned is Varun Pula, who owns Marshall Islands-based Bertha Shipping Inc., which owns and operates Comoros-flagged vessel PAMIR. The vessel has transported nearly four million barrels of Iranian LPG to China since July 2024, according to the U.S. statement.

The other Indian national sanctioned is Soniya Shrestha, who owns Vega Star Ship Management Private Limited. The company owns and operates another Comoros-flagged vessel, NEPTA, which has transported Iranian-origin LPG to Pakistan since January 2025.  The statement added that all “property and interests in property of the designated or blocked persons” that are in the U.S. or in the possession or control of U.S. persons are blocked and must be reported to OFAC.