Trump’s focus on ‘America first’ isn’t about isolationism: Tulsi Gabbard
Gabbard didn’t refer to Trump’s threat of imposing reciprocal tariffs from April 2 or to New Delhi’s specific security concerns while speaking at the Raisina Dialogue
President Donald Trump’s focus on “America first” isn’t about isolationism and the India-US partnership will grow and strengthen as the two sides engage within the Quad, tackle challenges in the Indo-Pacific, and work on security issues, US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said on Tuesday.
Gabbard didn’t refer to Trump’s threat of imposing reciprocal tariffs from April 2 or to New Delhi’s specific security concerns while speaking at the Raisina Dialogue, India’s flagship conference on geopolitics, but sent out a strong signal of continuity in India-US ties that have burgeoned in the past two decades.
The first Hindu American to head the US intelligence community was in New Delhi to attend an international security conclave chaired by National Security Adviser Ajit Doval on Sunday and to participate in the Raisina Dialogue. She was the first senior White House official to travel to India since Trump’s inauguration.
Trump’s commitment to “America first” and putting the security and freedom of Americans at the forefront of his policies shouldn’t be misunderstood as “America alone”, Gabbard argued. This, she said, is similar to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s commitment to “India first”.
Gabbard emphasised that she expects the India-US partnership, which has been nurtured through bipartisan support in America, to grow under Trump’s leadership. Trump’s focus on the interests of Americans should not imply he is a president who doesn’t understand the importance of relationships with other countries and working together on shared interests.
“The partnership between our two countries has been strong for decades and under the leadership of two great leaders and two great friends, President Trump and Prime Minister Modi, and rooted in our shared values of peace and freedom, security and prosperity, I’m confident that this partnership and friendship between our two nations and our leaders will continue to grow and strengthen,” she said.
Gabbard, who was on a three-nation tour of the Indo-Pacific, pointed to the key role the US and India have in ensuring collective security and economic prosperity in the region.
“It’s a vast and critical region that’s not just a geographic space, it is the geopolitical centre of gravity for the 21st century. So, ensuring peace and stability here is essential to our collective security, our objective of economic prosperity, and our ability to work together to take on the great challenges of our time,” she said.
“And we must tackle these challenges together. Our ability to do so as nations, as leaders, as people is critical towards achieving our collective goals.”
Gabbar said Modi’s visit to Washington last month to meet Trump was a “reconnection of two old friends” who continued to build their ties even when Trump was not in office. “Obviously, that’s a personal friendship, but it’s one that is indicative of their approach to leadership and their priorities of listening to the needs of their respective people, setting policy and taking action towards serving their best interests,” she said.
Trump and his cabinet have been engaging with members of the Quad, which groups India, Australia, Japan and the US, and other countries, she said. In this context, she referred to her participation in the Munich Security Conference in February and the Raisina Dialogue and meetings with counterparts on the margins of these gatherings.
Gabbard said her meetings with Indian counterparts enabled her to “hear directly from them about the very serious concerns that you have here for your own security interests” and to look for opportunities to build a strong partnership. There were also “opportunities from an intelligence-sharing standpoint” in the context of providing timely intelligence to the leadership, she said without giving details.
Both NSA Doval and defence minister Rajnath Singh are understood to have raised India’s concerns about the activities of Khalistani separatists on American soil and sought action against them by the US administration in meetings over the past two days.
Gabbard also referred to the strengthening of the India-US economic partnership without bringing up Trump’s threat of reciprocal tariffs, and the focus on cooperation in critical and emerging technologies. She indicated the framework for collaboration in these areas was laid out in the COMPACT (Catalyzing Opportunities for Military Partnership, Accelerated Commerce & Technology) initiative unveiled last month by the two leaders.
“I think there’s a huge opportunity for continued growth and continued investment in our mutual interests,” she said. Both sides are focused on tech-related challenges and opportunities, including evolving cyber-security needs, vulnerabilities, and the need to use emerging technologies such as AI to strengthen security interests.
Gabbard, who was raised in a Hindu household and is a practicing Hindu, made several references to her heritage in her remarks. She began her speech with a greeting of “aloha and namaste”, saying these words acknowledge the “eternal divine spirit that exists within each of our hearts, and it’s a reminder that we are all connected”, irrespective of race, ethnicity, and religion.
She said she also made a “pilgrimage to visit some holy sites” in New Delhi and ended her address with “Aloha, Jai Shri Krishna”.
