In a visit to India this week, China’s top diplomat said the two Asian nations should deepen cooperation amid international threats to free trade, a sign that President Trump’s trade war could accelerate a thaw in the frosty relationship between Beijing and New Delhi.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s top aide said ties with Beijing are on an “upward trend,” another signal that New Delhi may be recalibrating its foreign policy amid mounting tariff pressure from US President Donald Trump.

Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on Monday discussed border peace, trade issues and bilateral exchanges, aiming to strengthen cooperation between the two countries.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had been moving to align India with the United States and freeze out China. Now, efforts to rebuild ties between the Asian giants are gaining momentum.

India and China are aware of the “very high political, economic and military cost of frozen relations,” he says. “China felt it had pushed India too close to the U.S. while India realized that it was losing its vaunted strategic autonomy by getting too close to Washington and turning Beijing into an adversary.”

Their relationship is defined by a bloody border dispute, a vast power imbalance and a fierce contest for influence across Asia. Yet, President Donald Trump’s latest trade war may be achieving the unthinkable: pushing India and China into a wary but tactical embrace.

China has nearly doubled imports of Russia’s discounted Urals crude as India scales back purchases under U.S. pressure.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet with China’s top diplomat on Tuesday in a sign of easing tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbors after a years-long standoff between the Asian powers.