Washington: Top US official Jacob Helberg denied claims that India had been excluded from Washington’s new Pax Silica technology grouping due to broader tensions in the US-India relationship. Speaking at a press briefing on Wednesday, Under Secretary of State Helberg referred to India as a “highly strategic” partner in securing US supply chains.
“So my understanding is that there was a lot of speculation behind India not participating in the Pax Silica summit. I want to be clear that the conversations between the United States and India pertaining to trade arrangements are completely separate and parallel to our discussions on supply chain security. We are not conflating those two things,” Helberg said in response to a question from HT.
Earlier last week, the US State Department unveiled Pax Silica, a multi-nation initiative that aims to secure technology and supply chain security in semiconductors, AI infrastructure, critical minerals and advanced manufacturing.
Australia, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Israel, the Netherlands, the UAE and the United Kingdom also joined the initiative. However, India’s absence from the grouping raised questions as it has joined previous US-led supply chain security efforts, like the Minerals Security Partnership.
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh stated in a post on X that India’s exclusion from the grouping could be related to broader tensions in the US-India relationship.
However, Helberg explained that the United States was keen to start with Pax Silica by assembling a smaller group of technologically advanced countries.
“There’s a lot of countries that contribute different pieces to the overall global supply chain. We focused on a sub-segment of the supply chain that was very focused on semiconductor manufacturing. So Singapore, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, the Netherlands really formed the nucleus of semiconductor manufacturing,” explained Helberg, who serves as Under Secretary of State for energy, economic growth and environment.
Helberg also stated that the US was keen to expand the Pax Silica framework and bring in more reliable countries in 2026.
He stressed that India remains a “highly strategic potential partner” on supply chain issues and added that he was in “near daily communication” with counterparts in Delhi. Helberg also revealed that he will be travelling to New Delhi for the India AI summit in February next year, adding that the summit could be some key deliverables on the economic security partnership between India and the United States.
US official: Tariff row not why India is excluded from Pax Silica
