India Will Be The United States’ Most Important Ally In The Future [MAPS]

India is likely to emerge as America’s most important ally in the future, according to a survey of expert members of the Council on Foreign Relations by the Pew Research Center.

The Pew Research Center asked more than 1,800 CFR members which countries they thought would “be more important as America’s allies and partners,” allowing respondents to list up to seven economies.

India was the economy mentioned the most, followed by China and Brazil. Even though China has a larger GDP than India and is growing at a faster rate, it is a socialist republic.

India, though seen as more corrupt than China, is a democracy. India is also seen as a hub of innovation, whereas China is still seen as an economy that is good at replicating existing technology and manufacturing things.

Another factor that might have tipped the scales in India’s favor is English. While most Chinese business communications occur in Mandarin, in India English is the favored language.

The Pew Research Center also asked CFR members which economies were most likely to lessen in importance to the U.S. The European Union (euro zone) was the region named most likely to lessen in importance.

However, expert opinion on the EU remains divided: The region was mentioned in both the list of economies most likely to gain importance and the list of those most likely to lessen in importance to the U.S.

Several countries within the EU also came up in these ranked lists. Germany ranked sixth among economies most likely to gain importance, while France, Italy and the United Kingdom were mentioned in the ranking of countries that would lessen in importance.

Japan also appeared among the top 10 in both ranked lists, the only other economy for which opinion was divided.