Tariffs on India, restrictions on skilled immigrants bad policies: Delaware gov
Meyer and his Indian-American Secretary of State Charuni Patibanda-Sanchez said they are hoping to attract Indian pharmaceuticals, advanced materials, fintech, and software firms
Matt Meyer, the governor of the US state of Delaware, has said tariffs on India and restrictions on skilled immigrants are bad policies. In an interview with HT, Meyer and his Indian-American Secretary of State, Charuni Patibanda-Sanchez, said they are hoping to attract Indian pharmaceuticals, advanced materials, fintech, and software firms. Edited excerpts:
You are planning to visit India for new economic partnerships for Delaware. Can you tell us about that?
Patibanda-Sanchez: Past governors of Delaware have gone to India, and I think that there’s been a lot of interest and goodwill among our state and our counterparts in India. We even have a sister state relationship with Gujarat, and I, being Indian American, and growing up in Delaware, among the Indian American community here, there’s so much opportunity. When it comes to economic development, our local ethnic communities in the states are so well connected to their home states, and in fact, can cut through the bureaucracy, maybe even faster than governments. So that’s why we’re going, and we will be visiting Delhi, Mumbai, and Hyderabad.
Meyer: My first foreign trip as governor will be to India. And the reason is that Delaware is the best state to do business with in the United States if an Indian company, small or large, is looking to do business in North America. Delaware is, hands down, without question, the easiest place to do that. India is not only the largest country by population in the world, but also has an economy that is booming. There’s a lot of exciting innovation that we in Delaware really want to partner with and be a part of. We want to make sure Americans are taking advantage of innovations in bio manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, materials manufacturing, engineering, or even financial technology and software. Delaware is an ideal place for an Indian company to partner.
Governor Meyer, you have been a critic of the Trump administration’s tariffs. India is facing a 50% tariff as well. What impact are the tariffs having on the ground?
Meyer: The biggest crisis for Delaware families right now is affordability. Grocery prices are higher than they’ve ever been. When they go to put fuel in their car, the price is higher than it’s ever been. One big reason is because of these tariffs, which are like taxes. If this is a tax, I know that India probably looks and says it’s a 50% tax on us. From our perspective, this is a 50% tax on us, on the American people, because if we’re doing business with India, that means I have to pay 50% more for whatever is coming from India. So I just think it’s a really bad policy. I think it’s really bad for our relationship with India. It is ridiculous for us, just in terms of our relationships and of our friendship, for us to erect these trade barriers that harm both India and Delaware and America.
Do you worry about the impact these policies are having on the US economy generally?
Patibanda-Sanchez: I think from just an overall economic perspective, the uncertainty is really difficult for businesses. We get a lot of interest, but no signed deals, and that’s partly because the tariffs and the backtracking of the tariffs and all of that were producing so much uncertainty for companies’ bottom line. Even in Delaware, our own companies are waiting and seeing. I think all states are concerned about this. But America is a good place to start your business and come and grow and reach the American market. So, that’s what we keep trying to promote, and that’s why these trips abroad are so important.
Delaware is home to a lot of foreign skilled talent, particularly in the science and technology sectors. We’ve seen a tightening in immigration rules, especially for H-1B visas. How does that impact a state like yours?
Meyer: So generally, as an American, I think the direction that this administration in Washington has decided to go—more restrictive on immigration, more restrictive on bringing talent to our country, making it much harder for really talented young people to come and study at the best American universities—really bad policy.... We’ve done a pretty good job just helping companies that are in Delaware to bring talent here. For example, three months ago, there was a top Indian restaurant here that contacted me. They had a chef who wanted to come and work here. He had worked here, but before he left, his visa expired, and he was having trouble getting it renewed. Unfortunately, his name was Saddam Hussein. We fought for him. I personally went and fought to make sure he got his visa, and he’s here now. So we’re in a place where we’re going to fight to make sure that if talent wants to be in Delaware, I don’t care where you’re from, what language you speak, we want you here, and we will fight tooth and nail to make sure you get here.
There has been an uptick in anti-immigration sentiment in the US, with some of it targeted at the Indian-American community. How do you see this?
Meyer: I believe America is organised around certain ideals. Those ideals are based on family, faith, freedom, and you can come to this country from wherever you are in the world. Charuni has an incredibly inspiring immigrant story, starting with both of her parents coming here, working, and succeeding beyond their wildest dreams. My grandparents came here to flee harm in Eastern Europe. If they had stayed there like their relatives, they likely would have died. But they came in because it was safe. It was a good and safe place where they could be. And so I understand that in America, the leadership right now is not talking in those terms too often. They’re using incredibly disparaging and un-American language to describe certain people. What we say here in Delaware is, we don’t care where you come from. I don’t even care what immigration papers you have. To be honest, if you overstay your visa, I don’t care. If you’re coming here, if you’re going to be safe, if you’re going to celebrate your community, if you’re going to work like crazy, if you want to start a business, if you want to hire people, we’re going to do whatever we can to protect you.
