US ‘will try to stay on the sidelines’ as India-Canada diplomatic row escalates, expert says

The Biden administration will likely try to stay out of the diplomatic row between Canada and India as much as it can, aiming not to disrupt the progress it has made in its relationship with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, says the founder of the political strategy firm Signum Global Advisors. “We’re doing everything we can to engage with India and try to help overcome China, and I don’t think the United States is going to get too involved” in the dispute, Signum Chairman Charles Myers said on BNN Bloomberg Television. Myers, a former Evercore vice president, is a longtime Democratic Party donor and has raised money for Biden.

Relations between Canada and India have been strained by the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was shot on June 18 in Surrey, a suburb of Vancouver. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said this week that there is “credible” evidence linking the Indian government to Nijjar’s murder. “Any involvement by a foreign government in the murder of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil is an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty,” Trudeau said.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday urged India to work with Canada in its investigation of the case. “We want accountability and it’s important that the investigation takes its course and leads to that outcome,” he said.

But the United States and other allies have stopped short of taking specific retaliatory measures, such as expelling Indian diplomats.

The Indian government, which denied involvement in the assassination, designated Nijjar a Khalistani terrorist and criticized the Trudeau government for not doing more to combat “anti-India activities” within the Indian diaspora in Canada.

Canada expelled a senior Indian diplomat from the country and India retaliated. India has suspended visa applications for Canadians, a move that will prevent business and leisure travel from Canada if it continues for long.

“In order for Prime Minister Trudeau to even go public with these allegations, he has to have very good information and evidence, given the seriousness of the allegation,” Myers said. “If true, it is an example of state-sponsored terrorism on Canadian soil.”

Still, the United States “is going to try to stay out of this,” he said.