JD Vance is accompanied by wife Usha in traditional Indian attire as they arrive in New Delhi for trade talks – with China making ominous threat

US Vice President JD Vance was greeted with a full red carpet welcome as he touched down in New Delhi, but his high-profile visit comes against a tense global backdrop as China issues a chilling warning over America’s tariff war.

Vance, 40, stepped off the plane on Monday alongside wife Usha – the daughter of Indian immigrants – and their three children, all dressed in colourful Indian garments.

His visit comes two months after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held talks with US President Donald Trump at the White House.

Meanwhile India is scrambling to lock down a crucial trade deal with Washington before a looming deadline – and to avoid the sting of punishing US tariffs that have rattled global markets and drawn fury from Beijing.

Upon his landing in India, the US Vice President – a devout Catholic convert who arrived in New Delhi a day after meeting Pope Francis in the Vatican – was met with a red carpet welcome.

He and his family toured the vast Akshardham Hindu temple on one of his first stops. His four-day tour will take him to Rajasthan’s medieval Amber Fort in Jaipur on Tuesday, followed by a visit to the Taj Mahal in Agra on Wednesday. 

But it’s Monday’s high-stakes meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi that carries the real diplomatic weight.

The pair are expected to ‘review the progress’ in US-India relations and ‘exchange views on regional and global developments of mutual interest,’ according to Indian officials.

New Delhi hopes to secure an early tranche of a trade pact within the 90-day pause on sweeping tariffs announced by US President Donald Trump earlier this month – tariffs that spared India, but which continue to hammer China with rates as high as 145 per cent.

Beijing has responded with duties of 125 percent on US goods. India, hit with tariffs of 26 percent before Trump’s pause, has reacted cautiously so far.

‘We are very positive that the visit will give a further boost to our bilateral ties,’ India’s foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal told reporters last week. 

China, furious at being singled out, has now issued a dark threat – warning any nation against striking a trade deal with Washington at its expense.

‘The United States has abused tariffs on all trading partners under the banner of so-called ‘equivalence’,’ thundered China’s Commerce Ministry on Monday. 

‘We will take countermeasures in a resolute and reciprocal manner.’

Beijing’s dramatic warning follows a Bloomberg report that Trump’s administration is pressuring other countries seeking exemptions to reduce trade ties with China – with possible monetary sanctions in store for those that don’t comply.

In response, China is convening an informal UN Security Council meeting this week to accuse Washington of global economic bullying. 

‘The fact is, nobody wants to pick a side,’ said Bo Zhengyuan, partner at China-based policy consultancy Plenum. 

‘If countries have high reliance on China in terms of investment, industrial infrastructure, technology know-how and consumption, I don’t think they’ll be buying into US demands. 

‘Many Southeast Asian countries belong to this category’.

Despite the global storm, India remains focused on its own balancing act. 

A Department of Commerce official said New Delhi was ‘carefully examining the implications’ of the US tariffs, but also ‘studying the opportunities that may arise.’

Modi – who visited the White House in February and is widely seen as having a close rapport with Trump – pledged to work on a ‘mutually beneficial trade agreement’ between the world’s largest and fifth-largest economies.

While India’s booming IT and services sectors rely heavily on US markets, Washington has in turn made billions from defence deals with New Delhi in recent years. 

Trump himself hinted he may visit India later this year for a summit of the Quad – a powerful bloc including the US, India, Japan and Australia.