Jaishankar travels to US on Tuesday in 1st visit by Indian side after Trump win

Jaishankar will visit the United States on December 24-29 and will also chair a conference of India’s consul generals in that country

Published on: Dec 23, 2024, 21:32:49 IST

By Rezaul H Laskar

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NEW DELHI: External affairs minister S Jaishankar will make a six-day visit to the US from Tuesday, the first by a senior Indian functionary since Donald Trump won the US presidential election in November.

External affairs minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar speaks at the Global Coalition to Address Synthetic Drug Threats in New York on September 24, 2024 (AFP FILE)

Jaishankar will meet his counterparts to discuss bilateral and global issues, the external affairs ministry said in a brief statement on Monday without giving details.

Jaishankar will visit the United States on December 24-29 and will also chair a conference of India’s consul generals in that country, the statement said. “He will be meeting counterparts to discuss key bilateral, regional and global issues,” it added.

People familiar with the matter said on condition of anonymity that Jaishankar is expected to meet his US counterpart Antony Blinken and other officials in what is likely to be the Indian side’s final engagement with the outgoing Joe Biden administration.

It is not immediately clear whether Jaishankar will meet any member of the incoming Trump administration. The people, however, said such interactions could not be ruled out. Trump is set to begin his second term as US president on January 20.

In recent weeks, Jaishankar has said that India is better placed than many other countries to build deeper ties with the incoming Trump administration, given the good relationship between Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Republican Party leader’s positive view of India.

However, Jaishankar has also pointed out that India, like other countries, may have to cope with some issues under an administration led by Trump.

In recent weeks, concerns have grown in New Delhi following Trump’s remarks about hitting India and several other countries with high tariffs. At the same time, experts believe the change in administration in Washington is unlikely to impact the growing collaboration between India and the US on defence, security and emerging and critical technologies.

Bilateral ties largely witnessed an upswing in Trump’s first term during 2017-2021, and these ties were further expanded under the Biden administration, especially on strategic issues and through mechanisms such as the Quad. These moves coincided with efforts by Washington to ramp up relations with New Delhi to counter-balance China’s aggressive actions across the Indo-Pacific.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rezaul H Laskar
Rezaul Hasan Laskar is Foreign Editor with the Hindustan Times, which he joined in 2015. He began as a journalist in his hometown of Shillong in northeast India and has worked in newspapers and wire services over the years. He moved to New Delhi in 1997 and initially focused on defence, national security, Jammu and Kashmir and the northeast, while also working of foreign policy and international relations. He has been part of the media delegation accompanying PMs on foreign visits and has reported from destinations ranging from Tibet to Ukraine. Between 2007 and 2013, he was the Press Trust of India correspondent in Pakistan, one of only two Indian journalists allowed to report from the country. He extensively covered Pakistan’s domestic politics and the life of the common people, as well as the fallout of the 2008 Mumbai attacks on India-Pakistan relations and the subsequent trial in Pakistan of the suspects involved in the attack. As part of his reportage in Pakistan, he travelled the breadth of the country, from the Swat Valley to Balochistan. Reza’s first gig in journalism was writing a weekly music column, and music – especially classic rock – remains a keen interest. He is also a movie buff and a keen photographer.Read More