Biden's CAATSA waiver to India and Its Significance in India USA Relationship

Biden's CAATSA waiver to India will be a game Changer For India USA Relationship

Recently a bill was passed in House of Representative of the United States, which proposed the government of USA not to impose sanctions on India for buying S 400 missile defence system from Russia under its CAATSA act which stands for ‘Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanction Act’. Surprisingly enough the bill was passed in the House of Representative with a huge majority of votes in favour of India. Out of 435 members, 330 member voted in favour of this bill which is a huge number.

 This bill is yet to pass through the Senate and then the President of US will pass it, so it has a long way to go, but most probably this bill will be passed by both the Senate and President Joe Biden. If this bill get passed then this will be a historic decision taken by the US. This will be the first time when USA will make changes in its CAATSA bill and will give India a sanction waiver.

Earlier USA has imposed sanction on China and Turkey for buying S 400 missile defence system, even though Turkey is a member of NATO, sanctions were imposed on it. But India will get a special treatment from USA.

The USA gave the argument that as India is facing aggression from China in the borders, Buying S 400 was a necessity. Another important aspect is that, India is a key partner for USA in its ‘Indo-pacific ‘strategy so imposing sanction on India might cause problems between the India and USA relations.

This move by USA will make relations between USA and India stronger and will help in confidence building between the two nations.