NEW DELHI: The ministry of external affairs on Thursday expressed confidence in India-US ties amid tariff war, saying that the two nations have “weathered several transitions and challenges”. This comes a day before Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin’s crucial meet, the outcome of which would impact India as it faces additional 25% tariffs because of it’s continuous purchase of Russian oil.It further announced the 21st edition of the joint military exercise, ‘Yudh Abhyas’, expected to take place later this month in Alaska. “The United States and India share a comprehensive global strategic partnership anchored in shared interests, democratic values and robust people-to-people ties. This partnership has weathered several transitions and challenges, as we had said earlier, and we remain focused on the substantive agenda that the two countries have committed to, and we hope that the relationship will continue to move forward based on mutual respect and shared interests,” MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.“The 21st edition of the joint military exercise – ‘Yudh Abhyas’ is also expected to take place later this month in Alaska. Both sides remain engaged to convene the 2+2 Intersessional meeting at the working-level towards the end of this month,” he added.He also informed that a US defence policy team is set to visit India in mid-August.“The India-US defence partnership, underpinned by foundational defence agreements, is an important pillar of the bilateral partnership. This robust cooperation has strengthened across all domains. We are expecting a US defence policy team to be in Delhi in mid-August,” MEA said.This comes after New Delhi rejected a media report that claimed that India had put on hold talks for major defence purchases from the States.“The news reports on India pausing the talks related to defence purchases with the US are false and fabricated. It is clarified that the various cases of procurement are being progressed as per the extant procedures,” defence ministry officials had said.